Margaret Hope Graff » Recent Journal Entries » AboutMyBaby - online baby scrapbooks, photo albums, videos, birth and pregnancy announcements

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Thu, Apr 30, 2009 4:42 PM
Hard to believe Maggie is 5 1/2 years old now. I have to add a post to this site to keep it from being deleted.

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Fri, Sep 9, 2005 3:30 PM
I'd like to announce my new blog, "My Girls," at http://deborahgraff.blogspot.com.

Posting on both girls' sites is making less and less sense, so I have started a new blog where I'll journal about what all of us are up to on a daily basis. I will continue to update Audrey's site with photos and developmental milestones, but I'll no longer add to Maggie's site. It will be nice to preserve it as a digital scrapbook of her first two years.

So, come on over to the new blog and post a comment to let me know you're there!

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Mon, Aug 29, 2005 8:10 PM
Margaret had her 2-year check-up today. She weighs 24 pounds, is 35 inches tall, and has a head circumference of 49 centimeters. She's in the 10th percentile for weight and 75th for height. Tall and skinny, as always. Everything checked out okay and she was pronounced healthy. She got one shot and didn't even mind! The nurse wisely gave her some stickers just before, and Margaret was so absorbed that she hardly noticed the injection.

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Mon, Aug 22, 2005 9:48 PM
Happy 2nd birthday to Margaret! Our little girl is a big two-year-old today. To seasoned parents a 2-year-old must still seem like a baby, but to us she seems very OLD and advanced. She's so full of intelligence and feelings, likes and dislikes, and all the hundreds of words and expressions that are such a big part of her personality.

I kept telling Margaret that today was her "real" birthday, but I think after the excitement of yesterday's party it all seemed anticlimactic to her. We spent the morning at home, just reading books and playing with stickers and doing our usual things. In the afternoon, Robert took off work and we headed to an outlet mall to shop. I got some stuff for both girls at the Carter's Outlet, including a rubber ducky that Margaret picked up and wouldn't let go of. Luckily it was only $2. Robert got a couple of cigars at a tobacco shop, and I got a pair of capris at Ann Taylor that more or less fit. I'm slimming down slowly, and nothing ever seems to fit or look good. It's frustrating.

Then we had a birthday dinner at the Rainforest Cafe, which Margaret loved. When the lights dimmed and the animals moved and made noise, she smiled and danced and waved at the gorillas. She ate macaroni and cheese for dinner, and the waiters brought her a sundae and sang to her.

We changed her into pajamas in the trunk of my car (which she thought was pretty funny), and then on the drive home we talked and sang the alphabet song. She finally fell asleep a few miles from home. I carried her to bed, thinking about how when she was a baby, I'd carry her cradled in my arms from her carseat into bed. Now I carry her upright, with her head on my shoulder and her arms wrapped tight around my neck. When I set her in the crib, she said "bye" in a little voice and snuggled into her blankets. Good night and happy birthday, my big little two-year-old Margaret Hope.

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Sun, Aug 21, 2005 3:12 PM
Today we celebrated Maggie's birthday one day early with a fantastic party for her in the backyard with 19 grown-ups and 9 kids in attendance. It was a Maisy theme, so we had Maisy balloons, tablecloth and party hats. For snacks we had chips and dip, fruit salad, olives, and crackers and cheese. The juice boxes were a big hit--these kids usually only get splashes of juice in their water cups, so 100% juice is quite the treat. The grown-ups drank water and sodas out of the ice chest. Is there anything better than pulling a dripping, ice-cold can of Diet Coke out of an ice chest? We're thinking of leaving the ice chest on the patio full time and replenishing the ice and sodas daily. That's not crazy, is it?

Anyway, for activities we had Maisy coloring sheets and goody bags to decorate with stickers. But mostly the kids played on the "fort," a big play structure that was Maggie's big gift from her Gaga and Papa Graff. She loves it, and her friends do too! As the guests departed, we gave each one a Maisy book, a CD of "Margaret's Songs Vol 2," a sheet of stickers, a can of Play-doh and a mold or cutting tool.

The best part of the party was when we brought out the cake and sang to Maggie. I was holding her and Robert was right next to us. While everyone sang, Maggie just smiled and looked around in sheer delight. It was so sweet to see her enjoying everyone's love and attention. I whispered a wish in Maggie's ear and helped her blow out the candles. And then we dug in! It was white cake with lemon mousse filling, whipped cream frosting and Maisy drawn on top. Everyone raved about how yummy it was. Personally, I think it was the best bakery cake I've ever had, even eclipsing our wedding cake! Maggie only had a taste. I think she was stuffed from the zillion chips and THREE juice boxes she'd put away.

When everyone left, Maggie opened her gifts in the family room. She got a ton of fabulous gifts--clothes, books, puzzles, a big Maisy ("new doll Maisy!"), cooking playthings, art supplies, and lots more. We gave her a little car seat for her dollies that looks just like Audrey's real one. Audrey gave her a Hello Kitty backpack. She was so funny while opening the gifts. She loves unwrapping, and when she saw each gift she would say "Wow! Wooooow! More? More present?"

The evening concluded with pizza for dinner, a bath from Grandma Montgomery and a peaceful bedtime. Tomorrow is her actual birthday and we plan for it to be a quieter, but still special day.

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Fri, Aug 5, 2005 1:37 PM
Maggie's second birthday is right around the corner. When we ask her how old she'll be, she says "two!" and holds up one finger. When we ask what kind of party she's having, she says "Maisy party!" And when we ask what she wants to do at the party, she says "Draw! Cake!" That should give you a pretty good idea of what to expect at the party. The food is easy to plan because we'll be serving Margaret's favorites: chips and dip, fruit, and cake. Activities will include coloring Maisy pictures and making lemonade (one of Maisy's favorite pastimes).

Margaret is certainly acting like a 2-year-old already. She is prone to small tantrums and disobediance (especially where her sister is concerned). She screams and fusses at almost every meal, dumps her food on the floor constantly, throws crayons and toys, and seems to get into bad moods at least once a day (especially if she doesn't nap well). But when she's happy, she's very happy! And luckily she IS happy most of the time, and I have a lot of fun playing with her.

Maggie loves her baby sister but she is a menace whenever Audrey is lying on the floor. I have to stay right next to them to keep Margaret from squishing/kicking/hitting/squeezing Audrey. But Margaret likes to show toys to Audrey and give her soft pats and kisses, and Audrey gets very wiggly and excited when she sees and hears her big sister.

Maggie's drug of choice is TV. All day long she asks for Maisy (and less often, for Blues Clues). When one show is over she asks "More? More Maisy?" The other day my parents were over and we were all in the backyard trying to engage her in play-doh and other fun activities, but after a few minutes she went inside and sat in her chair with the remote and stared at the blank TV. An addict!

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Fri, Jul 22, 2005 8:15 PM
Happy 23-month birthday to Margaret! This is the last time I'll celebrate a monthly birthday with a bear chair photo. From now on I'll only do them on her yearly birthday, and maybe sneak one in on the half-year too, if I remember. I can't believe she'll be TWO in just a month. I have started planning her second birthday bash, which will have a Maisy theme. I'm not as organized as I was for her party last year, but I'll do my best.

Margaret's favorite activites are drawing with pens and crayons, putting stickers on paper, mailing letters, taking care of her Dollies (covering them with blankies, giving them rides in the doll stroller, feeding them milk, burping them, etc), playing with Playdough (outside on her new plastic picnic table), taking baths with Dora the Explorer bubbles, watching Maisy and Blue's Clues on TV, and reading books (especially Maisy books).

She loves spending time with her grandparents and talks about them often. She distinguishes between them by mentioning their pets. If she means Robert's parents, she says "Gaga, Papa, Big Guy, Little Fish, Wrinks!" (Big Guy is a giant koi and Little Fish are his cohorts, all of whom live in the Graffs' backyard pond; Wrinks is their Shar-Pei). If she means my parents, she says "Gaga, Papa, Mimi!" (meaning their ancient doggy).

Her pretend play is starting to take off. She likes to fly like a plane, fly like a bird, and pretend to be a dog by getting on all fours and barking. We're working on being a duck. A few weeks ago we tried to count how many animal sounds she can do, and there were over 20!

She speaks in sentences all the time. Yesterday I brought her into the family room after her nap and she saw Audrey's carseat on the coffee table, and said "Audrey right there on table." These longer sentences are becoming commonplace.

Over the last couple weeks she has become very accepting of Audrey and most of the problems seem to be gone. The only bad thing is that she will try to roll onto her or drop toys on her occasionally. But she clearly loves Audrey and is really sweet with her.

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Sun, Jul 10, 2005 2:34 PM
Yesterday Robert asked Maggie to read what was on her little green chair. She said "Maggie!" like she always does (it actually says Margaret). Then he asked her what the letters are. She surprised us by pointing at the letters and saying "M, A, M, A, M, A!" Think she'll be reading when she's 2? I think so!

I like to brag, but Margaret isn't good at everything. Gina nicknamed her the "Little Detective" because she can't find things even when they're right in front of her. Today we went to Islands for lunch and she kept asking "where bird? where bird?" because she likes to see the big fake birds they have there. There was a giant yellow bird just a few feet away. I kept pointing at it and telling her to look at it, but she just couldn't manage to see it for the longest time (she did finally spot it--"oh there it is! there bird!"). She's so funny.

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Fri, Jul 8, 2005 12:37 PM
Yesterday in the car, Margaret was counting "One, three, four, five, seven, eight, nine, ten!" over and over. Don't know what happened to two and six. But counting to 10 seems pretty impressive to me! Sometimes I ask her to count things (her toes, spots on an animal, etc) and she does a pretty good job of it.

A funny thing she is doing lately is saying our first names: "Mama DEBORAH, Daddy ROBERT" over and over. Sometimes she even says "Mama Deborah HOPE." And this morning she said "Margaret Hope Graff" for the first time. It sounded like "Margit Hope Grass."

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Wed, Jun 29, 2005 10:00 PM
Margaret is very happy to have her new baby sister in the world! Now instead of pointing at my stomach and saying "Baby Audrey" she can point at a real little person.

The sisters first met yesterday morning when Robert brought Margaret to the hospital before I was discharged. Margaret brought balloons and cards for me and her new sister, and Audrey gave her a new doll from American Girl. We think Margaret has named her new doll Tallulah (in honor of the Maisy character), but we're not sure if it's going to stick. Maggie was a little uncomfortable in the hospital room. She just wanted to sit on my lap and cuddle with me, and wasn't interested in getting close to Audrey. Hence I didn't get the Hallmark-esque photos I had been dreaming of, but that's okay.

Maggie seems to like her sister as well as can be expected (she has only thrown things at her a couple of times, for instance). She likes to bring blankets and pacifiers to me when I'm holding Audrey. She has even attempted to plant a couple of kisses on Audrey's head, although I think our constant admonishments to "be gentle! be soft!" have made her a little wary of getting close.

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