Must.Have.Froggie.With.Me

I stuck Froggie on the dump truck with E.

Floppy Froggie slides off the seat.

E struggles to get Froggie back with her.

Perfect.

She proceeded to lay her head down on Froggie for a quick cuddle, but I missed the shot. Froggie is well loved. (Too bad we did not get a couple of them.)

Small Graces: when the sun pours in

1. I'm starting to find toys in odd places and it makes me smile. One morning, I found a stacking cup in the muffin tin under the stove. And last week, there was a Saltine cracker neatly stuck in the toe of my boot.
2. The surprise of sunshine. I came to accept the fact that Chicago winters would just be long and dreary, but truly it has not been terrible. When we have amazingly sunny days, I am utterly delighted.
3. Watching Ella stand on her tippy toes to get a better look at something. Or better yet, watching her wobbly little legs and feet as she walks along side me, holding my hand.
4. Realizing that Noah understands lots of what I say. The other day, we were packing up to leave a friend's house and out of the blue, he says 'bye' and waves his little hands. Or, yesterday morning, he was missing a sock and I asked him where it was. He got up and went right to it.
5. These tulip fields -don't they just make you happy to look at them?

Source

Noah Faces

Shopper girl

Ready for spring

We had a dear friend visit the other day. When she left, the kids stood at the screen door and looked outside for a long time. The idea of being outside is pretty mesmerizing to them.

They then proceeded to find small bits of pine needles from our Christmas wreath. I love the way that they inspect things with their curious little fingers.

Yep, he's still pretty bald.

This one seems to have hair that grows overnight.

New Tricks

As I've mentioned in the past, Noah is really into his nesting cups. We have a few sets and they are always out. He gets them all nested together and then takes one out of the middle and sees if he can get it back in sequence. Pretty fun stuff when you are one. The cups below were a Christmas present and he especially likes this set because he can take a cup, turn it upside down and then stick it on the next smaller cup, and they stick together. Today he figured out that he could build a tower (oh.my.goodness!) and he was infinitely proud of himself.

Next accomplishment: getting on the dump truck. For a couple of months, he's watched as Ella get on and off and he finally figured out how to hold on while lifting his leg over the seat. Also infinitely proud of himself on this one...big grins when he finally gets on and even bigger grins when he gets the school bus on the truck with him. We are talking real accomplishment here, folks!

And drum roll, please... Ella started to take a few steps! The first ones were right as we started with the stomach flu. The best part is that Nana P and Matt were her to see them! She was so mesmerized by a cell phone that she'd walk to get it. Since then, she's increasingly taking more steps and getting more confident in standing on her own.

Momma and Bean

Today Ella discovered that she could see herself in the camera's screen. This makes for some very sweet pictures.

Little people doing litle people things

I decided that even though it makes a massive mess, I'd let the kids feed themselves their breakfast this morning. It is not a big deal when it is finger foods. But, knowing that kids this age get a real sense of accomplishment when they learn to use a spoon, I decided that it was time. I let go of the fact that their chairs, faces, hair, clothes, fingers, floor and dog would be covered in food and gave them each a bowl of yogurt and bananas with a spoon. They were actually pretty good with their little utensils.

Of course, we had to take a bath after the meal. A few post bath shots are below.

looking out the window

pulling books off shelves

doing his new gorilla walk

Isaac

This is a little video for Isaac. He really likes Noah and watches the other videos of Noah fairly regularly. I know that it must get old for his mom to watch the same thing over and over again. So, actually, this video is for Meg and Isaac.



And one more...I promise that Ella is not generally dressed like a little boy (except when I run out of girl jammies.)

Suburbia

I'm sitting at my desk, checking my email, and noticed that an unleashed dog just pranced down the sidewalk. Looked closer --not a dog. A coyote just pranced down the sidewalk. Hum. I'm glad that Moses was not outside. Back to emails.

PS-we are finally over the stomach bug that plagued our family. I'm now in the process of trying to get weight back on the kiddos, accepting recipe ideas for high fat foods...

Small Graces: in the midst of the stomach flu

1. Saltine crackers and cups with straws
2. Watching Ella fall asleep on the floor because she just needed a rest and she felt safe (Dad was nearby)
3. Washing machines and dryers
4. Spending lots of extra time cuddling with our babies
5. Our Nana that lives nearby and is willing to stay with us and help (this is more of a 'huge blessing' than a 'small grace')
6. After a long stretch of lethargy, hearing Noah say 'ba ba' when I picked him up this morning
7. The delight in Ella's eyes when she was reunited to her beloved froggy, who had taken a hard hit from the flu.
8. Seeing Noah perk up at the sight of a sticker from the doctor, clutching it as he got him dressed, holding it all the way home and then taking it to bed with him.
9. Being reminded by my husband that even though we are up a lot in the night, this is what it was like when they were infants. We have come so far!

Gigi Hats

Check out the girls! These are the little sweethearts in our playgroup, Ella is on the far right. One of the moms has a business where she makes these adorable hats (newborn to age 5). Every time Ella wears hers, it makes me smile.

Buds

Pish and Dan have been friends since elementary school. Here they are before our wedding.

Noah and Isaac are getting jump start on hanging out. During playgroup the other day I noticed these two little guys were missing from the rest of our brood. I found them in the kitchen playing 'Fridge Phonics' together. It is a little toy that, when you put a letter in the right place, it tells you the name of the letter and the sound it makes. Nothing says friendship like learning your phonics side by side.

Thank you Trader Joe's

We discovered a new favorite toy: Trader Joe's balloons. I knew that kids liked balloons but did not realize the amount of spontaneous laughter and shreiking that they would bring. Thankfully, I visit the local TJs a few times a week so we'll be able to replenish the supply often.

Doggie Stuff

We had movers when when we relocated from Durham to Chicago. It was the best move ever. These big burly southern boys came to our house, packed up our stuff, and viola, it arrived in out new place. No schlepping, no lifting. Yep, it was moving bliss. However, one of our favorite parts of the move was realizing that the burly southern guy labeled a box of Moses toys, bed, etc. with the title 'Doggie Stuff'. Still makes me laugh.

So, with homage to that man, here are the recent happening of our doggie. We took Moses to the vet last week because he is having some stomach issues. The vet checked him out and decided that he has extra acid in his stomach. The solution? Pepcid...the kind that I took while pregnant. So far, it seems to be working.

In other news of the doggie, he now weights a whopping 10 lbs and 2 oz. That is up a whole pound from the last time that he was weighed in September. Moses is no longer able to clean up the kiddies table scraps. We are both bummed.