I made this

My first crochet attempt. I made this blanket for my sweet niece Amelia (Hilary's new baby). Well, she was a new baby when I made this. YouTube taught me how to do it. 

Naked Babies in the Bathtub

Will my kids hate me for this in 10 years? Probably.

Annie at 9 Months

• Height: 29 3/4 in. (still off the charts in terms of percentile)
• Weight: 20 lbs. 15 oz., 81st percentile (up from the 51st percentile and 15 lb.s 15 oz. at her 6-month appointment)
• As a man (or maybe a woman with a trimmed mustache? I'm not really sure...) said to me at the bus stop today, "That's a big ol' baby."
• Thinks her brother is the funniest and also the most bothersome person (she has a special cry for when he is near)
• Daddy's girl - she's all smiles whenever he is in the room
• Scoots (army crawl style) everywhere - usually to find mom and get me to pick her up
• Crawls a little, but can go up the steps in our living room
• Pulls to stand
• Eats more than any baby I've seen - sometimes 4, 4 oz. jars of baby food at a time!
• Favorite foods: yogurt and sweet potatoes, and lately, anything she can feed herself
• Can hold her bottle by herself when she feels like it
• Great sleeper
• Loves: her pacifier, pulling hair, pat-a-cake, grabbing things
• Hates: Lucas stealing her pacifier, getting her toes/legs dipped in the water at the ocean, riding in canoes
• Gets kissed, munched on, cuddled and squeezed constantly by her mom, dad and brother

Hamptons Weekend

Pleasant, perfect weather weekend. We had a great time.

 

According to Lucas, the best part of the whole weekend was getting in the water and running away from the waves.

 This happened:

GET ME OUT! WAH!

This little cutie loved shoveling the sand into her mouth, but you wouldn't believe how she cried when I dipped her feet in the water. Is this really my kid?

He calls her his pillow, and she loves to pull his hair.

First Family Camping Trip

We took our first family camping trip over Memorial Day weekend. Despite the rain and cold, we had a great time. We went to Stokes State Forest and stayed in a lean-to (a little cabin with a wood burning heater inside). I would totally recommend it.

Everyone looks unbelievably happy in the following photos. (That is why you should always take a lot of photos.)

New sleeping bags are so exciting!

Lucas already practicing his power poses.

Had to eat inside our lean to, thanks to the rain.

Maiden voyage for the dutch oven. Success!

Happiest/cutest baby in the world. BTW, all you have to do is say, SMILE!, and she does.

No rain the next morning meant we got to go on a fun hike!

My Boy

Lucas looked at this and said, "Guess what? I'm in time out. I'm in Annie's crib."

(For the record, he was not in time out. Although, he does love to climb into Annie's crib with her whenever he can. She reserves a special cry just for such occasions...her Lucas cry is unmistakeable.)

Puttin' On the Ritz

He walked out of his room wearing a take-out container as a top-hat and using a broken hanger* as a cane. How he came up with this, I have no idea. But it was pretty great. I just wish my photos were better.

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*Note: Hanger was broken while he was trying to swing from it like a trapeze. Wish I had a video of him climbing on a chair in the closet and jumping up to grab the hanger.

Disclaimer: Had I known that was his plan, I would have stopped him when I saw him taking his chair into his closet.

P.S. No pants!

Kid on Display

Three months ago, I experienced one of the more harrowing events of my career as a mother. So traumatizing that I am just now able to write about it. It all started with deal on a membership to the American Museum of Natural History. So one day, I decided to go to the museum to see the dinosaurs with my two kids, a couple of friends and their kids.

It all started off pretty well...

Watching a movie.

Posing with the mammoths (I think?)

I took my eyes off him for the briefest moment in an area of the museum where I thought he was corralled by walls/glass on three sides and strollers blocking his exit. Suddenly Corinne exclaimed, "Look at what your kid is doing!"  And this is what I saw*:

Lucas. On the WRONG side of 8-foot-high protective glass surrounding an exhibit. NOTHING separating him from priceless millions-of-years-old fossils. And I couldn't figure out how he got in there.

Surely there must have been a gate that was unlocked or a gap in the glass. He couldn't have gone underneath - the glass cleared the floor by only 4 or 5 inches.

Then Lucas began to TOUCH things: labels, boxes where the bones were displayed, a rod holding up the skull of a giant prehistoric sloth...which he thankfully didn't move.

Finally, Jacob (his 3-year-old friend) confirmed that Lucas had, in fact, slid under the glass. So I beckoned him over to me, grabbed his ankles, and yanked. Slightly panicked, I almost ripped the poor child's ear off as I maneuvered his head under the glass.

And thankfully, the sloths aren't under as much security surveillance as the more interesting dinosaur bones, so no alarms went off, no security guards approached, and my new museum membership was not stripped from me. Since then, I've only been brave enough to go back to the museum when Daniel is there to play man-to-man defense with me.

* Film credits go to amazing Corinne. Photo courtesy of Annalisa.

Dreamiest Day in Central Park

A few weeks ago, we went on a stroll through Central Park with some friends. THE MOST beautiful day ever. Thank you, Corinne, for these great photos (many of which were taken while I was elsewhere chasing down Lucas).

Lucas and Joseph hanging out. It's amazing how they get along despite the age difference.

 Couldn't decide which of these I liked better.

The skyline. The baby. The grass. The most magical day.

Annie is a giant

Annie's 4 month check-up was yesterday. Once again, she was off the charts in height (27.5 inches). I asked the doctor what percentile specifically and she said, "There's literally no percentile for her." At 15lbs 12oz she was in the 86th percentile for weight, down from the 96th percentile. That's because she is becoming a very picky eater. We're working on it, and hopefully those chubs will come back.

Here she is in her new Valentine's Day outfit from Scott and Jann. She's wearing size 6-12 months people. This baby is huge.

Me Being Mushy Again

Like I told my mom (and she agreed), my kids are the brightest, biggest, best looking, funniest and strongest. Here's proof. I just found this video from July.

And since I'm gushing, I can't believe how much Lucas has changed in the past 6 months. He still looks like a baby in that video. Those cheeks! That blonde hair! Those little brown knees! It kills me.

This Girl

It's pretty amazing to have a baby that smiles pretty much every time you look at her. Next step: smiling for the camera. Actually both kids could use some practice on that skill.

Happy Holidays to You!

Here's this year's holiday card. Thanks to my very talented sister, Hilary, for making it look good.

 

I wish I could display last year's card as a comparison, but I can't get it to load... Help, Hilary!

P.S. If we didn't send you a card this year and you wanted one, I apologize. Update your address here so we can send you one next time!