Halloween 2012

We had so much fun with Halloween this year. It helped me to be less of a scrooge about the trick-or-treaters who shouldn't be going anymore (I'm talking to you, high school boy with no costume, mom with a newborn and TWO bags for candy). 

Nora loved wearing her costume and going to our neighbors' houses. When she woke up today, the first thing she said was, "We had so much fun at trick or treat." She also unwrapped a Twixt bar at 8:30am so as to be ready to eat it after lunch.

Please forgive the grainy, i-phone quality of many of these shots. Sometimes you just have to use the camera closest to you.

 Goldilocks

Baby Bear

September, October

Instead of apologizing or explaining why we haven't posted in a while, I thought I'd avoid that conversation altogether and compensate with a bunch of pictures.

 We've been going to the library every two weeks or so. Nora has moved on from the board books, and can actually listen to regular picture books now. Charlie is more into the action of a book, as you can see!

This is what happens when Mary Grace goes out for the night. Something has gone wrong, terribly wrong, so just add it to our collection of bad parenting shots.
Just kidding. This is a picture of a campfire at Grandmama's house. Ben swears she's not crying...

 Lots of beautiful weather here, so lots of park days.

 Nora's best friends, Reese and Claire.

 Charlie sits up and plays like a champ now - no more flopping over. He's not mobile yet (a fact for which I am quite grateful), but we know it won't be too much longer. He also says "mama." And lots of other repetitive syllables, so I know it's not quite the real thing, but I still love it!

 Nora started preschool (one day a week) this fall! I had a lump in my throat the first day I dropped her off, but she loves it. The Elmo pack-pack, her new friends, snack time and art, her sweet teacher, loves it all.

Stay tuned for Halloween pictures. Which will hopefully be posted sometime before Christmas...

Learning to eat, learning to swim

We've had such a good summer! Lots of milestones, most recently with Charlie learning to eat and Nora learning to "swim" (or at least, be okay in the water without having to cling to one of our necks).

Potty Trained!! and other less monumental stuffs

In big news, Nora seems to be more or less potty trained. I'm not yet brave enough to have her out and about in her big girl panties, so since she's still okay in pull-ups (for the time being) I'm rolling with it. I love this picture of her in shirt, princess panties, and chocolate chip drool coming out the sides of her mouth (her reward for potty success).

I did a photo shoot of Nora and Charlie with the letters D, A, D for a Father's Day present for Ben. Overall, it was a 20 minute heart attack for me - no, hold the letter this way - Nora! Nora, look at me - Chaaarlie, Chaarlie, hey big boy - Nora get your hand out of his face! We amazingly ended up with a few good ones.

I like Nora's expression here. This kid has an impressive eye roll ALL READY. Also, Charlie looks less than pleased for some reason.

Aaaand, Charlie's favorite thing to do now is stand. On the floor, on your lap, wherever. Not sit. And definitely not lay down in your arms unless it's sleepy time.

3 Months Old and a trip to the lake

These are pictures from our Saturday trip to Louisville Point Park. It was a beautiful day, and we all wished we could have stayed longer!

Springtime and 2 Months Old

Easter Sunday. Can you tell I'm sleep deprived?

Charlie is holding his head up so well now! His baby acne is mostly gone, along with most of the hair on the back of his head. We love that he is starting to recognize us, smiling and cooing much more often. We can already tell that Nora and Charlie love each other - Nora loves to cuddle with him, and he arches way around to track her. I figure the honeymoon will last until Charlie starts getting into her things...

Nora is into a "no pants today" phase. Usually I can persuade her to put on a dress or skirt instead of pants. Sometimes it's just the diaper and a shirt. Or raincoat, as the case may be.

What a week!

One Week Update

Here are two shots from the first week.  Charlie and mom are doing well and Nora is settling into her new big sister role.

Three Days Old

Here are a few shots of Nora and I from the past few days getting to know Charlie.

Baby Charlie!

Baby Charles Benjamin has arrived!  He came on Saturday February 26th at 1:34am.  He measured in at 6 lbs 2.5 oz and 18.5 inches.  Below are a few pictures from the first day -- what a sweetie!

Catching up (again)

Here is a (much belated) picture from Nora's birthday. It's not the best in-focus picture, but I hope you can see the elation on her face as she opened her gifts. She kept saying "Oh no!" as she opened them - I think it was the only exclamation she could think of!

Lately, Nora has been enjoying dress-up. Her favorites tend to be accessories, especially hats. She also likes to clomp around in high-heeled shoes.

Here is a pregnancy picture of me in late November, about 5 months along or so...

And somehow we don't have any other pictures of my belly until this past week, 38 weeks! The ones I found of me in between these two times don't really show my growing baby bump. It won't be long now!