Coed Topless Back Massage

I couldn't resist the title. . .

For the past four years, Mike's approach to chiropractic care is to have Mikie walk on his back. This is very risky, for Mike not Mikie, since Mikie thinks it is funny to JUMP on Mike's back like it is a trampoline and hear Mike groan in pain. Honestly, it is amazing he can still walk.

For best traction, Mike takes off his shirt and lays on the floor. On this particular occassion, Dr. Mikie felt inspired to take off his shirt (his shirt being so cumbersome when trying to visualize on which vertebra to bounce). So why did Hannah take off her shirt? Because Mikie did. As you can see, she was incredibly pleased with herself. Who wouldn't be? She got to do two things that would otherwise be prohibited: walk around partially naked AND attempt to inflict pain and injury on one of her parents. We aren't sure why Mikie insisted on pouting in the majority of the photos. Mike thinks he is a wanna be Abercrombie model. The pout says "I'm so good looking, it makes me sad!"

Love, The Trahans

Unappreciated

As a belated birthday present, my sister, Katie, and her husband, Marta (Uncle Tay for short), bought Hannah more dress up stuff. The girl can now open a boutique she's got so many shoes and purses. Well, so many in Mike's eyes, not Hannah's.

I decided to document Hannah opening her gift, since Auntie Katie and Uncle Tay live in the South and love video of Hannah. What we ended up getting was evidence that Hannah loves Uncle Tay more than Auntie Katie. We've all suspected it. Since birth, Hannah would love to sit with Marta, even over me, a point Marta loves to brag about. When they come to visit, they fight over who gets to hold her first. . .

As you will hear at the end of the first section of video, Hannah looks straight at the camera and says "Thank you, Tay." While I hoped opening the shoes would help her focus more on thanking Auntie Katie too, it was only after repeatedly thanking Marta that she gets around to Katie.

In Hannah's defense, Katie did buy a "first birthday" card, so maybe she was pissed that her Aunt can't even remember how old she is. I wouldn't put it past her; this child can hold a grudge like nobody's business. I have no idea where she gets it from. . .

Love, The Trahans

Hannah Turns 2

Alright, no one knows better than me that my daughter was born on February 19th, not March 6th. Yes, I am a little behind. And, we may not have had one big birthday celebration (or four birthday celebrations like we seem to have for Mikie). But, we have been celebrating Hannah's birthday for the last month.

We started the month by going to Sesame Street Live: Elmo's Green Thumb at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium. I have to say, it was a great location. I can never tell how big a place is from the seating charts on Ticketmaster, so I ordered seats on the floor. But, the Auditorium is pretty small. I think we would have had a great view anywhere we sat. It wasn't packed; there were empty seats and room for the kids to dance in the aisles.In spite of the fact that he was the oldest kid in the Auditorium, Mikie was a good sport and seemed to enjoy the plot line. Hannah had such a good time, she passed out 10 minutes before the show ended.In the "actual" birthday weekend, we traveled to Pennsylvania to visit Grandma Pookie and Grand Da. Granted, I had an ulterior motive of ditching the kids so Mike and I could have 24 hours or peace. We stayed at the Lowes Hotel in Philadelphia, had deep tissue massages, ate at Del Frisco's for dinner and ordered room service for breakfast. Oh, and the kids had fun too. My parents took them to the Strasbourg Railroad to ride the trains, followed by dinner at Friendly's. They also had fun sleeping on the pull out sofa together. . . The highlight of the month of February was the day I sent cupcakes into daycare. When I picked her up, Hannah would not stop talking about "Hannah's cakes". I think she had seen other kids celebrate their birthday and liked being the center of attention.

All leading up to today. Hannah's birthday party. My grandiose plans on a snowy day in January had a guest list with all our friends and family, an elaborate cake, games themed around Sesame Street (a beanbag toss of "trash" into Oscar's trashcan, pin the cookie on Cookie monster, an Elmo pinata). In the end, we settled on a handful of family, ziti, cake, and a pinata (mostly because I already bought it two months ago). I did still make the cake, which, I must say, is one of my favorites.In the end, Hannah had a good time. Who am I kidding, Hannah always has a good time when she is the center of attention.Happy Belated Birthday, Princess.

Love, The Trahans

A Bunch of Hams

Like a lot of parents, we have tried to get professional photos of our kids taken at least once a year. Over the last six years, I think we have tried most of the usual photo studios: Sears, JCPenny, Target, Kiddie Kandids. Each had their issues: Sears and JCPenny required appointments and a 6 week wait on prints. Kiddie Kandids took walk-ins and printed your photos immediately. Unfortunately, their time management stunk. They underestimated the amount of time required to take pictures, so, even if you had an appointment, you were frequently stuck waiting. . . sometimes up to an hour. And, let me tell you, it is not pleasant to wait an hour with kids in dress clothes. Bribery was rampant, just to attempt to keep the kids happy long enough to get semi decent photos.

Enter Living Social. I was not paying attention to any of the "Deal of the Day" type websites. Until the day my friend, Amanda, sent me an e-mail about a deal from Living Social. For $80, you got a 1-hour photo shoot at a location of your choice plus a CD with 50 hi-res photos. Even after I print some, I would still spend less money than Kiddie Kandids (since I seemed to spend around $140 to get the CD plus all the prints). The only restriction, the location had to be within 1 hours drive of Boston.

And that is how we met Kate Femino. I paid for the deal, and scheduled a photo session at our house. That way, I can keep our kids entertained with their toys, video games, movies, etc. The only challenge would be finding ways to get cute photos in our home. Luckily, Kate being a skilled photographer, she had lots of great ideas.

As the photos clearly prove, Mikie is quite a ham. Mikie was not only happy to insert himself into EVERY photo, he was very opinionated on what would make good shots. Mikie playing air hockey. . . Mikie with his Lego Death Star. . . Mikie jumping on the trampoline. . . Mikie channeling Richard Nixon's famous "V signs". Once again, I swear this child is the male embodiment of my sister; Katie was always hamming it up in front of the camera.To end the photo session, I bought cupcakes to stage a birthday celebration for Hannah. Thought process being, we never seem to have decent pictures of the four of us at birthday parties. Or, it might have been a decent picture if my mouth wasn't open singing. Unfortunately, these shots were filled with me almost strangling my first born, since he continued to climb across the counter and blow out the candles before Kate could get a shot of Hannah doing so. She did manage to get some cute close-ups of the princess with a mouthful of frosting.To see all of the photos, click here.

Love, The Trahans