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.

Three!!!

We celebrated Elliot's third birthday on Saturday with a dinosaur themed party. His friends Conor, Gus and Aiden joined in the fun; as did Mimsey and Mariana. It was a great day. Elliot received lots of cool gifts including an incredibly realistic recycling truck from his godmother and a train table from Mommy and Daddy. I can't believe my baby boy is three.







Cousins!

Cousins, cousins everywhere! Before the summer ended Elliot took two trips to spend time with family and his new baby cousins. First, he and Daddy flew solo to Colorado to spend a week at Grammy and Papa's house in Erie. And Stacey, Uncle Joe and thier new babies, Webb and Adelaide, stayed in Erie too. Elliot's trip was action packed with trips to a farm, train museum, car museum, and down town Boulder. He did a great job on the plane and Daddy didn't have to use too many of the bribes that Mommy had packed in his back pack.

A day after returning home from CO we all hit the road for my cousin's cabin in West Virginia. There we met up with my cousin Fred and his family; Aunt Lindsay, Uncle John, and baby Natalie; and Mimsey and Gramps. We all had a great time hiking, playing in the river, and enjoying time with family. Elliot followed his third cousins Gabriel and Quint everywhere and had a blast playing with all of their toys. Beatrice and Natalie spent most of their time rolling on the floor, staring at each other, and being held. The weather in WV was quite cool, fall is right around the corner!



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.

This past weekend we headed down to Williamsburg to spend some time with Mimsey and Gramps. Mommy and Mimsey shopped, Daddy and Gramps played golf (Daddy did some shopping too), Elliot played cars and trucks, and Beatrice got lots of love a tummy time.

Actually Elliot did a lot more than just "play cars and trucks", which is always his response to the questions "what did you do today?" or "what would you like to do?" He fed the fish, explored the yard, woods and beach; and went shopping with Mommy, Mimsey and Beatrice. While we were out an about we encountered Geoffrey, the Toys R Us Giraffe. Elliot was very excited about the Giraffe, but also very scared. He begged me to hold him when we approached Geoffrey, I swear he had his legs wrapped around me so tight that my arms weren't doing a thing to hold him up.

A Walk In the Woods

The nice weather stayed with us through the weekend ,and we took full advantage of it this morning by setting out for a hike. We had planned to start at a trail head about 4 miles from our house, but quickly discovered the trail was not going to be stroller friendly (even for our agile bumble ride which has been on many a trail). After a short drive down the road we were back on track, this time on the paved Sligo Creek Park Trail. Elliot was able to walk and ride in his stroller and Beatrice was very happy to ride with Mommy (I don't know how she sleeps in that thing). We saw many runners, bikers and dogs along the way; stopped to play at two playgrounds; and even spotted two young fawns eating leaves right off the trail.

After our "hike" we went to our new favorite Mexican restaurant. It is very close to the Discovery Channel building which is promoting it's Shark Week by hanging giant balloons off the building to make it look like a shark. We all had a good time checking out the head, which Elliot described as "THIS big" (picture his arms stretched out), after lunch.

I hope the heat stays away. I could get used to spending my weekends outside.