Does this thing still work?

Hi friends and followers! We're baaaaaack! I have been a slacker for the past year and I want to get back into updating the blog semi-regularly. I'm not making any promises, but I am going to try. the p is turning 2 on Monday and I was looking back at blog posts with the girls the other day to see The P at the same age. The the posts, pictures, and especially videos it was great to be able to see exactly what she was up to. I feel bad I missed so much time documenting all the things the girls have been doing this year. If I try to go back and catch up, I'll never be able to, so I am just going to start fresh.

To ease back into this, here are some of my favorite recent pictures of the girls.

This kid is a character ;)

The P still loves to dress up whenever she can

Decked out in Easter gifts

Spring Photo Shoot!

Lucky us...the p's baby sign language teacher has decided to pursue a dream of becoming a family photographer and she offered to take photos of our family for free to use on her website. We spent a beautiful afternoon at Norfolk Botanical Garden and got a bunch of great pictures...



If you are interested you can find her information at www.rsutherlandphotography.com

11 months!

So, what were we up to this month? In a word...walking. That's right, walking, walking, and more walking is the name of the game. As you can see from the videos I posted the p started walking right after she turned 10 months. Basically, she hasn't stopped. Each week we could tell that she was noticeably better. She started out like Frankenstein with her hands out and very shaky. Then she was doing a "raise the roof" move with her hands overhead. Now she is pretty steady on her feet and can even stand up without having to pull up on something. She walked and walked until she got a blister on her toe and then she kept walking some more.

Thanks to the time change I was able to switch up the p's schedule so that she is up until about 7:30 at night instead of going to bed at 6. Now she can hang out with us at the dinner table and (knock on wood) sleep a little later in the morning.

I am starting to catch some glimpses of feistiness in her personality. She will definitely let you know if she is unhappy with something. She doesn't cry a lot but she "yells" and turns bright red. I swear she was kicking and fussing when I put her in the crib to take her 11 month pictures, but as soon as the camera came out she turned off the tears and turned on the smile. She is still a little ham ;)

When we went for her mid-month weight check she had gained just over half a pound and grew 1/4 inch over the past 6 weeks, so the doctor was pleased. We'll see them again after her big birthday.

Watch out...

Watch out Real Houswives of New Jersey...there's a new girl in town

She comes complete with a leopard print dress, kitten heels, and a tatoo! Plus, the blonde is all natural...at least for now.

Growing up

I am always posting about the new things that the p is doing, but her big sister has been busy learning lots of new skills too. Sometimes they are harder to capture in pictures, but I couldn't resist this one. Today she wrote her name all by herself! She is definitely very detail oriented and is really into coloring with crayons and drawing with sidewalk chalk.

Spoiler alert...

So I couldn't wait until the end of the month for this one. Just two days after she turned 10 months the p started walking on her own. She decided to let go of whatever she was holding onto and head across the room. I thought we had a problem with bruises on her head before, now it's really bad. I can't take my eyes off of her for a second. When we were outside yesterday she was next to me standing with her walker, I turned my head to help The P with something, and by the time I turned back she was halfway across the garage all by herself. At least I keep telling myself that it will be good in the late spring and summer when the weather gets warm because she won't be crawling around in shorts and dresses. We will see!

Here she is on the first day of walking...


Five days later and she is even steadier...

10 months!!!

Yes friends...we have teeth :) Two came in at the same time on the bottom at the beginning of the month. That was a couple days of fun which also happened to coincide with the beginning of our "winter vacation" to the Poconos. the p was unusually fussy for our long car rides up to NJ and PA and even refused the pacifier for a day. I thought it was part of a cold she had, but then I noticed a little bit of white peaking through her gums. By the third day she was getting back to normal and within a week the teeth were in full view ;) I can only hope when the rest fill in it isn't as bad. Besides getting teeth the p was busy practicing her crawling and getting faster and faster. She has also been pulling up on furniture this month. She can take up to 6 steps on her own between Daddy and I. It won't be long before she is walking all over the place. With all of the moving around she constantly has bruises on her mostly bald little head. She is eating lots of new food. Bagels and toast are her new favorites (another trait that she inherited from Daddy's side of the family). She enjoys anything she can pick up on her own.

I discovered that she loves stuffed animals that make noise and move or light up. She watches intently while they are talking or singing and then grabs them for a big open mouth kiss on the nose. I tried to get it on video, but of course she wouldn't do it. I'll keep trying...

What are you lookin' at?

Caught with her pants down!

This is how I found the p after her nap today :)

9 months

That's right...still no teeth ;) It's okay, she has had a very big month and it is certainly not slowing down her eating. She is eating solids really well and is up to 3 meals a day. She picks up finger food and can chew just fine with her gums only. However, when we weighed in at the doctor today she was only 17 pounds 6 ounces (not much more than she was a 6 months). She has dropped from the 96th percentile down to about 30. I shouldn't be surprised since she is always on the move. But don't worry, she is by no means a skinny baby. Her rolls are smaller, but they are stil there ;) At this point she actually wieghs about a pound less than The P did at her age and height wise she is about 1/2 an inch longer.

Developmentally, this has been a big month. Lots of changes. At the beginning of the month she finally started to say "Mama". It's great! Of course no more than 24 hours after I created the last post about how she can't sit up by herself I found her sitting up in her crib. Then the sitting lead to standing. Now when I go to lay her down for a nap she pops right back up. She loves to practice, practice, practice, so she has been missing some sleep during "nap time". She can also walk all around with her push walker. The child loves to be up and walking. Speaking of, she is still walking/running all over holding onto our fingers, but if you let go she can stand and balance for what seems like forever. She has attempted to take a step or two on her own, but would much rather have our support. I don't think it will be long before she is walking by herself, but in the meantime she has started crawling. She ges all scrunched up on her knees and can make her way around. We are in big trouble!

the p is also a social butterfly. She is still smiling at everyone and now she waves "hi" and "bye". When we went to the doctor today she kept waving to her and saying "hi". She loves the attention it gets her. She can do high fives and clap her hands. Put on some music and she'll bob to the beat :)

It's getting more challenging now that she is more mobile, but it is also super cute. We are very lucky that the p has such a good big sister to help. The P is a great help to me and loves her little sister so much!

Rock Gym

We took a family trip to try out a new activity this weekend. We went to the Rock Gym to try out some rock climbing. We had both kids, so we decided just to "boulder around". It was fun to try to get up to the top of the wall, and much more difficult than it might look. The P had a good time exploring and the p sat in her car seat on a table watching everyone and smiling. I would definitely like to go back to take a repelling lesson- without the kids next time. It was fun to go and try it all together.

8 months...

and still toothless :)

the p is officially 8 months old. She is doing new things all the time. I keep telling myself I should write them down, but of course I don't and then I have a hard time remembering what happened when...maybe that should be the New Year's resolution that I have yet to make. But anyway...as you can see she's still fat and happy. Although I do think she is a little less fat and a little grouchier these days ;) I think she is still around 18 pounds and she will definitely let you know when she is not happy with something. Gone are the days where she was completely content sitting on the floor with a couple of toys. Now she needs to be up and walking. Yes, I said walking. She doesn't crawl, but she loves to stand up holding my fingers and walk/run all over the place. Her favorite game is chasing The P. She screams and laughs the whole time. It's fun, but hard on my back. She can also stand on her own and balance for about 10 seconds or so. In her crib she has learned to pull herself up to standing. But she has to start from sitting up which she can't quite get to on her own yet. She babbles a lot. My favorite is when she says "Hey dada!" She can also wave "hi" and "bye" and she has started bobbing her head and dancing to music. It's really cute. She is eating lots of food. Two meals and day and she just started eating "puffs". She's already pretty good and picking them up and getting them in her mouth. It takes a little more effort to keep her entertained but it is tons of fun. Luckily she also has a great big sister who loves to help out.

Christmas 2009

I can safely say that Christmas with two kids- and especially preparing for Christmas- is totally exhausting! But we had a great time! We travelled up to New Jersey to spend Christmas with family and to visit some friends. The P is at a great age to get excited about Santa. We have been reading Christmas books at bedtime for months and I think she has "Twas the Night Before Christmas" memorized. (Don't make a mistake or she will correct you.) She had fun opening her gifts- as long as they weren't clothes. (The clothes were immediately discarded on the floor ;) ) the p also had a great time. She especially loved all of the ribbons, bows and paper.

Here is our one family picture with everyone dressed up.

(Clearly someone was not cooperating.)

The girls had fun spending time with-

Aunt Amy

Papa Ronnie

and Baba

New Jersey Snow!

Since we don't get much snow at home these days, The P got her fill in New Jersey before Christmas. Baba and Amy brought her up to NJ the Friday before Christmas- right in the middle of the big snow storm. The ended up with over a foot of snow. The P had a great time shoveling and riding on the sled...

earning her keep...

ready to ride
I think this was actually more fun for dad

cold and tired

7 months old!

Wow! My baby is 7 months old today. I can barely get over it. We have been so busy and time flies. The good news is she is doing great! She sits and plays for long periods of time. Although she can get a little grouchy if you leave her on her own too long. She loves to find two of my fingers so she can pull herself up to stand. Once she's up she wants to move and is learning to put one foot in front of the other to "walk" around. She has also started reaching forward to grab things that are out of reach and looks like she wants to start crawling. (For my sake, I honestly hope she takes her time before she crawls.) No teeth yet, but she enjoys eating and gets excited when she sees her bowl and spoon. According to my calculations she weighs about 18 pounds. However, she moves so much I think her legs are slimming down. (Or maybe I'm just kidding myself.) She is also learning to become a better sleeper. We moved The P into her own room a couple weeks ago, so now I don't have to run in and stick the pacifier in the p's mouth every time she moans. I let her go and she learned to put herself back to sleep. Now she rarely wakes up in the middle of the night (knock on wood). She still likes to wake up early- usually starting around 5:30- but she is happy to play in her crib for a while or she will put herself back to sleep, so I don't normally need to get her up before about 6:30. That makes everyone's life a little happier ;) She is still as smiley as ever and LOVES her big sister. We have been taking a baby sign language class for the past 4 weeks. It is still early for her to start signing, but she loves the class. She plays with the toys, watches the other kids, and is completely exhausted by the end.

Just yesterday she started to say "da da da". It's super cute :) You can kind of hear it on the video.

Who is who?

I get a lot of comments about how the p looks just like her big sister. Other people don't think they look that much alike. What do you think? Can you tell who is who?

A

B

C

D

Answers- A- the p, B- The P, C- The P, D- the p

Happy Turkey Day!

We hope that everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving. We had a really nice time in the Outer Banks. The weather was beautiful, especially on Thursday. We took a walk down to the beach, but all of the stairs were ruined from the storm. We found a cut through and made it down there. The P had fund collecting shells with Auntie L-da and the p was so exhausted she took a little snooze. We enjoyed a holiday of relaxing, eating, shopping, and spending time with family.

The girls

jeans twins

I have to squint because someone is borrowing my sunglasses

so sleepy...

Poor second child...

I am gaining an appreciation for the tortured life of the second child. Before The P would let me put her hair up today, we had to put a pony tail in the p's hair. In case you haven't noticed, her hair is pretty limited to a one inch strip across the back of her head. To humor The P, I put a few strands up with a little rubber band. Poor little thing. Luckily she is so laid back and such a good sport ;) So, if you look very closely at the next two pictures, you can see the p's first pony tail. (I can only imagine what it would be like to be the third child.)

Happy...and clueless

Happy Half Birthday!

I can't even believe my baby is 6 months old already! She is doing great. She sits up really strong and can stay for a long time (until she loses her balance and falls over on her face- not fun!). She enjoys eating (obviously) and has tried rice cereal, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin. I think sweet potatoes are her favorite so far. We went to the doctor and she is weighing in at 17lbs 3oz and measures 25 inches long. She moved down to the 75th percentile for weight, but she's still a "chunky baby"- as her sister likes to call her. She got 4 more shots, so hopefully she is all juiced up for the winter. We went through a rough patch with sleeping, but it is getting better. She definitely like to start her day a lot earlier than we are used to. The P gives her more love than she could ever need and is a great big sister. Lately I have been getting even more comments about how much they look alike.

Pretty Princesses

The P wanted to play dress up today, and it turned into a family event...