July 2008

I blink, and the summer is halfway over.  This last month, the kids have become such little people.  Though there are no clear or obvious “words,” there’s a lot of talking going on.  Different sounds, intonations, expressions.  Lots of opinions, lots of thinking and problem-solving.  Opening and closing doors, moving that pesky gate that stands between you and the cable modem.  Climbing the stairs, climbing everything.  Not super interested in walking, but occasionally standing unassisted for a second or two before carefully sitting back down, and crawling as fast as you can to wherever I’ve hidden the TV remote.  Chasing the dog, almost playing tug with her.

Rebecca in the kiddie pool on a hot day

Daniel tests the water.

Rebecca cleans up after herself.

Daniel tries to bust out of "baby jail."

Oh dear, look what they can do!

Out to lunch...

My little boy, nearly a year old.

Rebecca vs. Winnie, who gets the toy?

June 2008

Alas, though we stayed in town for all of May, June was not the same.  Another crazy-short trip to Florida, this time without the infant carseats, but instead with the Britax and the Travelmate.  Now that they’re older, they really have no interest in sitting still for any length of time, so it was a more difficult flight than previous ones. Alas.  In baby-news, Daniel finally started to crawl after watching his sister do it for two months, and that lit the fire under our rear ends to finally rearrange our den for their benefit.  Despite always changing, their personalities seem to be solidifying somewhat.  Rebecca has proven to be largely more even-tempered and pretty darn independent.  Daniel is arguably a bit more temperamental and sensitive, sometimes clingy, but also incredibly sweet.  Naps went through a rough patch, but more or less resolved.  Alas, sleep is never that easy, is it?

We sure do love double shopping carts.

Daniel cools off by sharing a popsicle with me.

Fun at Grandma's house in Florida

First Father's Day

Rebecca enjoys her variety of finger foods.

Ooh look, the warming drawer on the oven!

Rebecca and her new shoes play outside.

Daniel's looking at... something.

More cute than you can shake a stick at.

May 2008

You know one really good thing about May?  We didn’t go anywhere! We stayed in MA for a whole month! Delightful.  In the meantime, Rebecca crawled everywhere, including over to Daniel to grab his toy, since he couldn’t follow her.  Both kids loved standing more than practically anything.  More teeth joined the face, so Daniel would no longer look like a crazy old man or a vampire.  Both began reliably holding their bottles, which was an awesome development.  So much independence!  We also had my first Mother’s Day, babies’ first BNL show at Barnes & Noble, a new swingset, and a Memorial Day BBQ with friends!

She'll be taking that toy now, thank you.

They were troopers for the crazy BNL outing.

Standing everywhere!

Rockin' the new swing set

Daniel's first rib... mmm...

Rebecca makes her duck face

Playing outside, hooray for nice weather!

A face you frequently see on Rebecca

Daniel bangs away with his bowl and spoon.

April 2008

April, already? Yikes. Warm weather, another short trip to Florida.  Fabulous new stroller, and M’s first business trip out of town.  Rebecca crawled just in time for a short visit from my dad, and got her first teeth.  Daniel got two more, the “fangs,” and his first ear infection.  Added a third meal of solids, and started finger foods.  What fun they are!

They figured out how to tip over the box with the toys in it.

Sitting up in Florida

The BOB!

Fangs

Rebecca is up to no good, now that she crawls.

Sleep is so much better these days!

Rebecca thinks that by "solids," I actually mean the tray of her high chair.

March 2008

Another big month, as the pace seems to accelerate.  March featured a shockingly good trip to California for my brother’s wedding, a move to the big tub for baths, double shopping carts, and new carseats!  They regularly laughed at each other while hanging out in the exersaucers, started babbling just a little (or blowing raspberries), and were all-around lots of fun (save for those days when Daniel wanted to wake up at 4:45 in the morning).  Rebecca showed lots of interest in crawling…

First time in the tub together, one of the last times for the infant tub.

Rebecca enjoys one of her first tastes of avocado in California.

Daniel sleeps through most of his uncle's wedding.

Rebecca would like to crawl...

Daniel enjoys the new bath locale.

She's getting closer and closer to crawling...

Daniel is attacked by the tickle monster

Rebecca's still tiny in her big new car seat.

Could she get much sweeter?

Naturally, everything goes in Daniel's mouth.

February 2008

Half a year gone by already! I have to say, this is when the pace seemed to pick up.  Suddenly they were so different!  A big month, too, just after the half-year birthday: sitting up, sleep training, and solid foods!  They also had their first really nasty illness, including 24 nasty hours of vomiting and Pedialyte.  Which they then passed on to me and M as soon as they were better.  It was ugly.  But we all recovered, and by the end of the month things were completely different: regular nap schedule, meals, and the new level of interaction that comes with sitting upright.  Oh, and teeth!  Daniel’s first tooth came through the day of his 6-month birthday, and the second followed a week later.

Six months old, what big kids!

Rebecca's first taste of sweet potato.

Daniel wants to know why we're doing this to him.

Looking good after their 6-month shots

Daniel loves sitting up.

Rebecca hoardes pacifiers now that Daniel doesn't want them.

Still plenty of time just lying around...

Daniel still loves the exersaucer, especially since he can grab things.

Rebecca makes some crazy faces for the camera.

Being upright is super fun!

January 2008

A new year! The kids were getting more interesting, sleep was still tricky (major fighting with the swaddle), and another trip was planned!  This time, to the warmer, sunnier climate in Florida.  The trip was nearly 10 days long, some with M’s family and some with my mom.  We hadn’t quite made it to unassisted sitting, but there was now some rolling and general interest in things just beyond reach.  There was also our first collective cold, and first sick-baby visit to the pediatrician for a diagnosis of pinkeye (even the damn dog got it).  And election season was upon us, and we got to see Grandpa on CNN!

Oh, and did I mention I got my new camera lens?

Daniel's two favorite things: sitting up, and no clothes.

The facial expressions really got good, and Rebecca likes the 2nd exersaucer.

Daniel in the Bumbo

Rebecca with my mom in Florida.

Ahh, the ocean!

December 2007

And then, the next thing we knew, it was December!  The holidays were upon us, and the kids were 4 months old.  What an improvement!  M’s family visited for Hannukah and his birthday, and then the preparation began for our first flights with the kids.  The way there went alright, the way home was a disaster.  But, live and learn.  The trip itself was a whirlwind, and difficult when so many wanted to see the kids, but they were still napping frequently and crabby if they didn’t get to do so.  Balancing the needs/wants of each branch of my family tree was difficult, but we made it.  While better than the newborn days, they still weren’t great sleepers. Daniel took nearly all naps in the swing, Rebecca seldom napped for longer than 45 minutes at a stretch, and they were both still swaddled (in very elaborate fashion).

Pretty easy to prop into a sitting position, now.

"Ball Pit" in our 2nd mom/baby class

Daniel & I take our first flight together.

The Snap N Go makes the flight to O'Hare

With their aunt and uncle

Rebecca in her party dress, Christmas morning.

Back at home, Daniel loves the new exersaucer.

Rebecca gets darn good at head control.

November 2007

Looking back at blog entries from the kids’ fourth month, I feel like that’s when I really started to get the hang of things.  Or, maybe I was just better at documenting it (my first NaBloPoMo).  In some ways, it was a rough month.  Both of them were much more awake and alert than they had been in the itty-bitty newborn stage, which in some ways was a lot of fun.  The flipside, though, is that more time awake is more time to be fussy, because they still needed a lot of sleep.  Which leads us to the great nap strike of November ’07.  In hindsight, it was only about four days that Daniel refused to sleep during the day for longer than about 15 minutes at a stretch.  But as it had never happened to me before, it felt like forever.  I had no idea what to do.  He just cried all day long.  As quickly as it happened, though, it really did go away.  The great parts of the month included first laughs, more smiles, and a newfound awareness of the world around them

Rebecca in our new Bumbo chair

Still small enough to share the Boppy

Out for a brisk walk on my birthday

Crabby? Time for a walk!

Daniel takes a break from all the nap-strike screaming.

Rebecca with her aunt on Thanksgiving

October 2007

The third month featured my first minor illness and bad back incident while at home full-time with two babies.  The hard truth: no sick days when you’re a SAHM.  October was also when I made it official and told my boss I would not be returning to work after my 16 weeks of maternity leave.  While I enjoyed my job a lot, I can’t exactly say I miss it.  In fact, I hardly notice I’m not there, which is not what I expected to happen.  Though I do miss the relative ease of sitting on the commuter rail for my commute, and going out for lunch whenever and wherever I wanted.  Sigh…

We had a few friends visit from out of town and meet the babies, including M’s friend Jamie, an ER pediatrician who volunteered to stay at the house with the kids so we could go out for a quick dinner on our own!  And the babies’ first Halloween (and our 3rd wedding anniversary) was a spectacular disaster, a day filled with crying from nearly everyone.  Alas, 11-12 weeks is not the most fun age…  Still, things were going to improve soon.

Both kids, hangin' on the couch before bed.

A walk in the "big kid" stroller

Last day of our mom/baby class

A very bald little girl, but oh so sweet!

Daniel's smile begins to emerge