Four!

Elliot celebrated his 4th birthday with a party on September 10th. Per his request the party had a Superhero theme. I still can't believe my little man is 4! He tells me daily that he is a big boy now. Elliot continues to amaze us with his kindness, curiosity, creativity, and happy go lucky personality. He has developed quite the vocabulary at 4 and regular uses words like fantastic, similar, amazing, and specimen. He knows the names of most dinosaurs and loves learning about nature. One of our favorite activities is to take nature walks and collect specimens for our nature/bug boxes. Elliot has an incredible attention span for a 4 year old and is content sitting quietly and listening to books on CD. I picked up Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories at a Garage sale a few months ago and his aunt Lindsay gave him Frog and Toad and Winnie the Pooh for his birthday. He listens to at least one CD every day during quiet time.

Elliot's birthday party was a lot of fun. His buddies Gus and Conor were there with their parents and younger siblings. Family in attendance included Mimsey and Gramps, and Mommy's cousin David and his son and youngest daughter (Joey and Phia). It was a nice day and the kids had a blast playing in the yard. Elliot got lots of fun toys and all of the kids went home with super hero themed gift bags.

Elliot's gift from Mommy and Daddy was a bike with training wheels. Elliot has been enjoying riding ever since. Beatrice also loves the bike and wants to ride it just like her brother, helmet and all.

Changing of the Guard

Mariana flew back to Brazil today. We were going to go to the airport to send her off, but she asked us not to so that the kids wouldn't remember her leaving sad. So we said our good-byes on Friday afternoon before heading to the airport to pick up our new au pair, Lara. Mariana was a wonderful addition to our family and she will definitely be missed. She on to bigger and better things and we wish her nothing but the best as she embarks on her next adventure, college in San Francisco.

Elliot was very excited to pick up Lara at the airport. He brought the "welcome" sign that he and Mariana made for her and he gave her a hug when he met her. He got to spend lots of time this weekend getting to know Lara and he really likes her. He does miss Mariana though but as he told me the other night, "I am sad about Mariana, but not sad about Lara."

Beatrice also seems to like Lara, but has also had a little separation anxiety. I expected this and hope that it won't last long. Lara, like Mariana, is from Brazil. Given how far away from home she is, she probably has a little separation anxiety of her own. Hopefully we are making her feel right at home.

Party Time

The pink and green butterfly themed party was a success! The only downside was the weather which kept all 35 guests inside for the entire party. Thank goodness for the play room. Beatrice and Natalie were showered with attention, love, and presents. I went a little over board with the decorations and you can see lots of pictures of the decor on my other blog, http://www.namesakedesign.blogspot.com/ (posting on April 14th). I will add additional photos from the party as I receive them from party goers.

Thank you everyone who came to celebrate - especially Grammy and Papa who came all the way from Colorado.

Aunt Lindsay, Brian, Beatrice, Amanda, Natalie, and Uncle John

Beatrice, Amanda, Mom-Mom (great grandmother to E and B) Lindsay, Natalie, and Mimsey

Beatrice really liked this plate. It was one of Natalie's presents.

The cake Mommy made

The babies look a little confused/concerned....

Natalie's Aunt Rachel helping the big kids with cake and ice cream.

Elliot wanted to test all of the new toys to make sure they were "safe". These Busy Gears were a big hit.

Natalie was fascinated by the balloons. Elliot was very sweet to his little cousin.

Beatrice Turns 1!

Today was Beatrice's first birthday. This year went by so fast! We kicked off the birthday celebrations with a trip to the doctor for her one year check up. I really would have preferred to go another day (nobody wants shots on their birthday), but today worked best schedule wise. Beatrice is 29" tall (60th percentile) and weighs 20 pounds 12 ounces (50th percentile). She cried her little head off when she got her shots, but recovered quickly.

She spent the rest of the day playing with Elliot and Mariana. At around 5 PM, Grammy and Papa arrived. They flew in from Colorado today and are staying until Sunday. Our friends the Haugens (minus Nick who is out of town for work) came over for pizza. For dessert we had pink cupcakes made by Elliot and Mariana. Beatrice liked smashing the cupcake almost as much as she liked eating it.

I can't wait for the big birthday celebration this weekend. We are having a joint party with cousin Natalie. It is going to be so much fun!

Walking!

Beatrice is determined to walk. She can walk about five steps at a time and tries to walk everywhere. I was finally able to capture her skills on video this morning:

Click Here

Of course I can't get Miss Independent to walk to me! She is already doing her own thing.

Scooter

She doesn't go great distances, but Beatrice has figured how to scoot. Her technique is sort of a modified commando crawl. She still prefers rolling from point A to B, but she'll use the scoot if she wants something in front of her, especially if that something is the remote control.

Budding Artist

Elliot's drawing ability has improved dramatically over the last couple of months and he has started drawing more than just scribbles and circles. His favorite subjects are monsters - blobs with lots of stick limbs, eyes, and a mouth. Today he presented me with his most detailed drawing to date.

Sitting Pretty

Last weekend Aunt Lindsay and cousin Natalie stopped by for a quick visit while passing through town. Even though Natalie wasn't feeling her best and was a little fussy, I got a couple of shots of the the babies showing off their new sitting skills. Beatrice still needs some help sitting but she is getting better at it everyday. Natalie can already get up into the crawl position a rock back and forth - watch out Aunt Lindsay and Uncle John!

Happy Half B-day Beatrice!

Today Beatrice is 6 months old! Where has the time gone? She is growing and changing everyday, Mariana swears she looks bigger after not seeing much of her over the weekends. Missy Moo, Pup, Bea, or BB (as she is frequently called) is a very happy girl. She smiles every time she sees her brother, Mommy, Daddy, or Mariana. Beatrice loves to laugh and finds Elliot, Mariana's singing, and Daddy's silly faces to be quite funny. She is getting stronger everyday and likes standing and sitting with help. She also loves to bounce in her rain forest bouncer (something that Elliot also enjoyed) and roll around on the floor. Beatrice is a great little sleeper and goes to bed every night with little to no fuss.

We've only been a family of four for 6 months, but it feels like Beatrice has always been a part of us. I know the next six months will bring even more changes and surprises as Beatrice gets bigger and becomes more engaged with the world around her. I can't wait to see what's ahead, but I also want time to slow down so that I can enjoy every second with my baby girl.

Half B-day Update: At her six month check up Beatrice was 75 percentile for height and 64 percentile for weight. She grew two inches (to 26") and gained two pounds (to 16.4) since her last visit.

Roly Poly

Beatrice rolled from her back to her front this morning then did it again, and again, and again. She seemed quite pleased with herself. She is napping now - rolling is hard work.

Sleeping Beauty

Last night Beatrice went to bed at 8:30 PM and woke up at 6:00 AM. We are all hoping for a repeat performance tonight!

Lost my camera and track of time...

Sorry for the lack of posts over the last few weeks. Our lives have been actioned packed and I swear I have been documenting every moment, and I would post pictures from all of those moments if I had not left my camera at my cousin's house over a week ago. Thankfully my sister and mother-in-law have sent enough photos to give you a taste of our adventures. More to come.

The most exciting news to share is that our Au Pair, Marianna, has arrived from Brazil. She has been with us for three weeks now and things are going very well. Elliot is in love and Beatrice is quite content in her arms. Marianna has been quite the trooper, as the basement remodel is not exactly complete (hopefully it will be on Friday). As part of the remodel the kids will have a big playroom to spend their days in. Since I am working from home, this will make all of our lives easier.

Shortly after Mariana's arrival Beatrice and I left for Colorado to attend Stacey Farnum's (sister in law) baby shower. Stacey is having twins in July and we are all very excited about having two more cousins. Beatrice was a great traveler and we had great time hanging out with Grammy, Papa, Uncle Joe, and Aunt Stacey.

About a day after we returned home from Colorado, we all took a little trip to Williamsburg (everyone but Daddy). I was able to spend two days in the office in Richmond (my first week back after maternity leave), Elliot and Mariana spent their days riding the golf cart and playing at the beach, and Beatrice had lots of time with her Mimsey.

We went directly from Williamsburg to my grandmother's, Mom-Mom, 90th birthday celebration. Most of my cousins and aunts and uncles on my dad's side (the Heller family) were there. It was great seeing everyone and Elliot had a blast playing with his third cousins (my cousins' kids). His first cousin, Natalie, was also in attendance. She and Beatrice are 2 weeks a part. Of course we dressed them up in matching outfits and took lots of pictures.

Last weekend we went to a cookout to celebrate the engagement of two friends and say good bye to two others who are moving to Nebraska. The party was hosted by the McGinty family. They also have a newborn and a 2 1/2+ year old, Connor. Needless to say Elliot had a great time playing with Connor and Beatrice enjoyed being passed around and snuggled.

Phew... that's a lot of stuff. Enjoy the pictures, I promise to post more as soon as I get my camera back.