sillies

Silly 1 and Silly 2...

...enjoy some silly times on the couch!

thankful

Many reminders lately that we have much to be extra thankful for this year.... including, of course, our two little munchkins. Abigail, in true two-year-old mode, can switch between delight and terror at the flip of a switch. Here she is turning on the sweet, reading Nate one of her favorite books, Jip and Janneke.

We had two little "helpers" for Thanksgiving meal prep this year!

Papa puts the finishing touches on the turkey before it gets popped into the oven.

Then Grandma and Grandad arrived! Nate was very happy to see Grandma again - he missed her after all of their quality time in Louisiana...

And Grandad and Nate hadn't seen each other since Nate was much smaller...

Group photo - minus photographer Grandad.

Abigail wrapped up the day with a little dress up in princess clothes. Hand-me-downs from much admired big girl Kathlyn! (We haven't experienced princess-fever yet at our house, but friends assure us that it is impossible to avoid....stay tuned.)

catchup

"Hi guys! I went to Louisiana!"

Grandma, Nate, and Mommy chez conference site outside of Baton Rouge. Nate was a champ on all of the flights. Grandma was a super-star babysitter. Mommy survived a week away from maternity leave. Nate consumed 1.5 ounces from a bottle on two occasions and was in all other instances brought to mommy for his meals -- thank you Grandma! We will continue to celebrate small bottle victories and hope that Nate and the bottle bond before Mama is back to work in January....

With Abigail's persistent nap-battles at home we have instituted a new reward system where she gets a present every time she takes a nap... here she is celebrating with her "present" to make muffins with mommy. Pumpkin muffins were quite tasty! Note rain boots and apron - sharp dresser Abby!

Papa was heroic at holding down the fort with Abby while mama and Nate were away. Here he is with his hands full one evening:

flying

Pre-Thanksgiving acrobatics with Abigail....riding on mommy's back...

...and on Mommy's knees.

Abby's flying!

Wheeee....

louisiana

"Louisiana you say?" Abigail reacts skeptically to the news that Mommy (and Nate, aka needy-but-cute-bottle-refusing-infant) are off to Baton Rouge for a week-long return to worky work.

Nate was surprised to hear about his upcoming travels too! First plane rides, new state, grandma babysitting, lots of opportunities to keep trying the bottle . . . many adventures in store! See you in a week, blog.

wedding bells ring

We went to Florence and Steven's wedding!

Nate slept through it in the Moby wrap. Abigail listened to some of the ceremony and then when she started asking lots of questions she ate a lollipop! Afterwards there was a lovely reception where Abigail enjoyed some tasty french toast and fruit. On plastic furniture no less! This took some of the supervision stress off the parents ... the other rooms had beautiful upholstered furniture which was not syrup-proof! There was also another little buddy there - David who was 3 1/2.

Big congratulations and bisous to beautiful bride Florence and handsome groom Steven. It was wonderful to see Ed, and so hard to believe that it was 10 years ago that Jamie and Ed and Flo all lived on Capitol Hill together!

2T to 3T

Remember Abby's stripey jammies from last year? Those were size 2T:
Now we have 3T!

Abigail had kind of forgotten what fun it is to wear footie suits.

November 2010:

December 2009:

more odds and ends

Nate loves a good blanket to play with.

Or a burp cloth. Note his new hangout place in Abby's doll stroller. Perfect fit!

Election Day. Mommy (and Nate) voted in the morning. Then, the dreaded late afternoon fussies struck. Abigail said she had a stomach ache and would not calm down. Let's hope that Mommy never has to do this again: Nate in Moby wrap on front, Abby in Ergo on back. Things looked up considerably when we picked up Papa from the train station, he voted (with Abby's help), we had dinner, and Abigail's stomach ache was forgotten.

A scene from a calmer evening last night. These days after the daylight savings time change start early and are soooo long - you'd think it was more than 1 extra hour. We haven't fully made the switch so find ourselves with lots of post dinner play time. Kitchen floor time with the gang:

"You're a chair papa! No, a bench!"
Does everyone like Abigail's new haircut?

this-n-that

More recent pics will be posted when we download them from the camera (we went to a wedding - yay! abby got a haircut - hooray! daylight savings time happened - blah!) . . . but in the meantime, a few pics that fell between the cracks over the past few weeks....
Abigail enjoys some spiced applesauce cake while sporting her lovely new sweater from Great Aunt Coral!

Papa and Abby have been taking lots of neighborhood walks to enjoy the fall weather and Halloween decorations at neighbors' houses.

Rosie and Nate got together to "play" again.... I believe this would be the two sweeties at 10 weeks, but who's counting anymore, right?

Abby loves her new hat that Rosie's mama made...and Nate has a mini version to match! Both hats are getting lots of love, but have yet to be photographed together.....

Nate and Abby keep busy while mommy makes dinner. Nate flails his arms and legs around while Abigail diapers her other baby Betsy (in addition to her baby Nate that is).

And on Halloween day we had a fun bagels brunch with Georgia and family! Here Nate (aka Superman) hangs out with G's papa, while Georgia contemplates big sisterhood in her future - a little sister will be quite the Christmas present!

these are a few of nate's favorite things

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens....

Nah... what Nate REALLY likes is his activity mat. Guaranteed good times.

He also loves his new wall decorations. Something to look at when he wakes up makes this little guy pretty happy. He's easy to please that way.

And now that Nate realizes that his hands are HIS and he can MOVE them, he loves inserting one in his mouth any chance he gets.

Little dude also loves to be swaddled.... here he is waking up.

With Abby it was the Ergo where she spent so many hours. For Nate, it is the Moby Wrap. He does love it so. (Yes, that's Abigail trying to sneak off with a roll of packing tape...gotcha this time Miz A, I see you in the mirror and am documenting your tricks too.)

And we can't forget to mention the bottle... most certainly NOT one of Nate's favorite things. He HATES it and I now understand what friends meant when they said "my baby refuses to take the bottle." Before I thought, hmmm... how hard can it be to stick the bottle in their little mouths - these babies, they like to suck on everything. Friends, I get it now. Any words of wisdom from bottle-savvy people out there, please send them along!