The McPherson Chronicles

"Bad news Mama. Daddy tooted in your room." "This song is dope!" When anyone compliments him on his rain boots: "Thank you! My Grandmother got them for me." "When I'm big I'm going to be strong like Daddy." "I'm going to have a big blue truck when I'm bigger."

The night before the girls' winter break was over Olivia came out of her room at bedtime crying. When I asked her what was wrong she said, "I don't want to go back to school tomorrow because I'm going to miss Andrew. I've had so much fun playing with him and I don't want to go back and not get to play with him every day." She burst into full on tears and it was the sweetest most heartbreaking thing. She truly loves her brother and seeing how emotional it made her made me tear up too. I hope she never loses that love for her brother. She truly has the sweetest heart.

Olivia and Andrew have always had a very easy relationship. They get along for the most part, he has gone to her first before Lucy for things and they have tended to play together more regularly than Lucy and Andrew. Lucy and Andrew have had a more trying relationship. He has always seemed to get more frustrated with her and when he was in his hitting/biting phase, more often than not it was Lucy who was his victim. I noticed the other day just how far their relationship has come. It was when Olivia was still recovering from her stomach bug that Andrew and Lucy spent nearly an entire day together with no fighting or frustration at all. It was so awesome to watch and see how much Lucy loves playing with him and teaching him things, and seeing Andrew go to her for help and mimics what she does. These moments are truly amazing to watch and seeing their bonds grow and change is the best. You can never imagine what sibling relationships will look like or how they will play out but watching ...

Andrew has quite a good time when naptime comes around at my parents' house. Twice this week she had these reports: Monday: "After an hour or more of 'No, I don't need to sleep!' he will not sleep. Somehow he moved the bed way over to the CD player." Followed by "He just demonstrated to us how he jumps and wiggles back and forth and sure enough he moves [the pack n play across the room]!" Thursday: After an hour and a half of talking, singing, jumping, laying down, wiggling, standing up, tossing around and a diaper change, he finally went to sleep. He also loves noticing things while he plays outside and when we drive around. He always notices when there is a clock (he knows exactly at what point he can see the CBU clock tower on Adams and proudly shouts "Tic Tock!" every time), loves when he see trains, and now wants to know everyone's name ("What's that name?" as he points at a complete stranger). He was outside pl...

I melt when I find them all doing something together like this. Love them!!

Andrew desperately wants to do everything his sisters do...even cartwheels.

This couldn't be a better description of Andrew. Everything he sees the girls, Kevin or I, my parents, other kids do, he thinks he can/should also do.  He is attached to Olivia & Lucy especially. Kevin and I often have discussions about how amazing the girls are with him. They always cater their games to include him, share their toys and tablets when he asks (or just takes) and always find ways to entertain him. They went through a period where they wanted space in their room without him but now they almost always invite him into their room and include him in everything they do. He is a lucky little guy and they are the sweetest, most generous big sisters I know.  movie night Yoga practice

Andrew has kind of been on a roll lately associating people he knows with pictures of other people. The first time was on Thanksgiving at my parents' house. Andrew saw Mary See on the box of Sees candy and excitedly said, "It's Miama!" Over and over again throughout the night he pointed her out to us. Hilarious! Then, the other morning when he got up he saw The Night Before Christmas book on the shelf and said, "Look it's Uncle Greg!"

I always loved watching the bond between the girls. They have been two peas in a pod since birth and truly are best friends. I wondered how Andrew would fit into the mix and how their relationships would form over the years. I'm truly amazed watching them interact and care for one another. The girls are so loving, sweet and accommodating of Andrew and he adores them and wants to do everything they do. This picture sums up so much of these 3 best little buddies.

Andrew has started this new thing that I absolutely adore and hope he never stops doing. When it's time for bed he gets his lovie and puts his thumb in his mouth. I scoop him up and he gives kisses to Daddy and the girls before we go to his room. Usually we'll read a story and then turn the lights out and cuddle for prayers. For the last week or so he has anticipated when I am at the last sentence of prayers. Just as I say the last few words he pulls his thumb out of his mouth, gets the biggest smile on his face, grabs around the back of my head and pulls me in for a kiss on the lips with impeccable timing as I say the last word. Afterward he gives me one more big grin, puts his thumb back in his mouth and snuggles up with his lovie as I lay him in his crib. It's the perfect ending to the day.

Lucy and Andrew have a funny relationship. They generally antagonize one another more than anything. When I caught these 2 sitting together to watch TV the other morning it was a total Kodak moment. And he smacked her on the head right after he got up. Classic Andrew "Thank you".

Happy the Elf made his return as usual on December 1st. The girls didn't even notice Happy that morning, or the book he left. But when we got home that night they immediately saw the book Yes, Virginia There is a Santa Clause and started asking me where it came from. I was just as surprised as they were obviously and all of a sudden Olivia yelled, "It's from Happy!!" They set off searching the house for our resident elf and sure enough there he was. The girls were the most excited I've ever seen them. They jumped up and down, screamed and Olivia even got tears in her eyes to see that (creepy) little elf back in our house for another year. What seems like a relatively minor part of Christmas to me is so magical and special to them and it makes the season so much more special. Every day the first thing the girls do is race around the house looking for Happy. Some nights they even say good night to him. This weekend after a pretty good argument Lucy asked if Happy s...

I realized I haven't kept up much with how our adjustment was after Andrew was born. I guess I was too busy just living it to actually even realize it! But now, 7 months in, I have time to reflect and process it all. It already feels like Andrew's always been here. Just having the girls, being pregnant and even him being born all feels sooooo long ago. How is it already closer to him being 1 than a newborn? The girls adore Andrew and have since he arrived. They are amazing big sisters. I love how every morning as soon as they hear him start chatting in his crib they ask if they can go in and say good morning. They stand next to his crib and talk and laugh. They make faces, give him toys, play peek-a-boo and talk or sing. Whenever he starts fussing and one of us can't get to him, they are always right there trying to make him feel better or tell us what is wrong. They love pretending to talk for him, especially in the car. I think they use him as their 3rd vote on anything...

I just remembered two funny things the girls said on our post-Christmas trip to Arizona. We went the Friday after Christmas to surprise Aunt Sarah for the weekend. She was successfully surprised (by the girls jumping out of Christmas gift bags on her doorstep) and we had a fun, relaxing weekend just hanging out at their house. At one point, Sarah agreed to play cards with the girls (they're really into Crazy 8's and Old Maid). Olivia walked over with the cards, placed them in front of Sarah and said, "Shuffle 'em up, girl!" with a little sassy attitude. We had a good laugh at that one. Later in the weekend, everyone was in the backyard playing the new game of Cornhole Kevin & Tim built. It was Kevin's turn and after a (less than stellar) bean bag toss Lucy said, "You call that a throw, Daddy?" Seriously, with the attitude they put on everything are they already pre-teens?? I'm definitely not ready for that!

Every night after we tuck the girls into bed and right before we say prayers, we go around and each say our 3 favorite things from the day. It was a random idea I had one night as a way to distract the girls from whining over bedtime and it has stuck ever since. In fact, if we ever forget to do it, the girls are quick to remind us. It's been quite fun to see what things they remember from the day. Here are some of my favorites lately: - I liked to sleep (Olivia on a day when she didn't take a nap) - I loved watching a movie (Lucy on a day when she didn't watch a movie) - I liked looking at Grandma's movies this morning (Lucy talking about just browsing through the movie cases on the shelf) - I love, looove, looooooove_____________ (Olivia's 3rd thing almost always starts very drawn out and dramatic like this and Kevin and I smile about it every time) - I loved playing (they both say this one when they can't think of anything else) - I liked when Goos...

Conversation from a week or so ago with me, Lucy and Aunt Sarah: Lucy: Where are Daddy and Uncle Tim? Me: They went to go pick up Nana's Christmas present. They'll be right back. You can't tell Nana what her Christmas present is! Lucy: Ok, I won't tell her. Aunt Sarah: Can I tell her? Lucy: No, you can't tell her! Aunt Sarah: Ok, I won't say anything to Nana. Lucy: Well, you can talk to her, you just can't tell her what her Christmas present is. Tonight while coloring a Christmas picture with Olivia: Me: I wonder what's in the presents?   Olivia: Oh Santa brought those presents. They're not for you. Santa's only for kids.   Me: He is?!? Only for kids???   Olivia: Yeah   Me: Who told you that?   Olivia: Oh, you know... (giving me her sneaky look) Other things they have been saying lately that crack us up: - I don't care for that. - You have to be patient. - You know what we forgot? - May I....? Olivia also...

On our way to Mass on Sunday, we finally remembered to bring some food for the girls to give to the food collection. They hadn't done this before and we weren't sure what to expect. They proudly carried their cans of soup into Church and Lucy would periodically check and make sure hers was still safely tucked beside me. When it came time for the Offertory, Kevin showed the girls where to go and ushered them out of our pew. They walked hesitantly up to the front and followed a few other kids right up to the basket where they placed their cans. They turned around and started heading back together with giant grins on their faces. They were so proud of themselves! It was adorable! We'll be sure to remember to always bring food with us to instill in the girls the importance of giving. Thank goodness they didn't want to go get the soup back at the end.

This must be what all those people who say, "Twins, huh? Wow, you must have your hands full!" are referring to. Best thing in the world!

When Kevin moved out the girls' cribs to make way for their new beds, he found a perfect little (dirty) baby footprint on the wall behind the cribs. It was so sweet to see that tiny footprint on the wall as a reminder of how much they've grown (and also why I bathe them every night).

We FINALLY got the girls to try and like spaghetti and bow tie pasta! Last night was a big accomplishment. I knew they would like it since they like pasta (spaghetti o's) and sauce (they've eaten it while scavenging through my lasagna makings). They were just adamant about not trying it before. I decided to make them some bow tie pasta with just butter as their only option for dinner last night. Once they tried that and were ok with it but not terribly enthusiastic (they were both gagging on each piece as they ate it- can you say dramatic?), I offered them some sauce on the side that they could dip their pasta into. They were quite excited about this and immediately started eating more. Kevin offered them a bite of his spaghetti and Olivia was interested. She loved it and kept asking for bites of ours instead of her bow ties. That got Lucy interested and she started letting him feed her spaghetti too. We ended up giving Olivia her own bowl of spaghetti that she used her fingers...