Thursday, February 28, 2008

Multiple Milestones

It happened almost overnight. Nathan is sitting up, unsupported, for almost a minute at a time now.



I am very excited about this because 1) Olivia started sitting up at about the same age, and 2) I promised myself that as soon as he could sit, we'd go and get his portraits done again. We have the cutest one of Olivia sitting up, naked, with her butt to the camera, looking back over her shoulder at us.






The "back to the camera looking over the shoulder" is the hottest new pose on the red carpet. Minus the nakedness. Unless you're Tara Reid. But I digress.

He is also getting ready to crawl. He is getting his knees up underneath him almost effortlessly. He's just not sure what to do with his arms yet. So, he either rocks back and forth, or propels himself forward and does a semi-face flop. I am guessing within the next few weeks he'll have the arms figured out and be burning rubber around the house. At least we don't have stairs to contend with anymore. Hallejulah!

I think I can, I think I can...



Whew! I need a rest!


Arm fatigue sets in.


Here he is the next day. Notice the drool hanging. This crawling thing is hard work! Ahh phooey!

I hope to be posting some full-blown crawling pictures soon!

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

A Visit from Grandma

My mom flew in from Florida for a visit last week. We were so busy having fun that I didn't have time to post, but here are a few pictures of our week together:

We went to the duck pond - one of Olivia's absolute favorite things to do.


Nate was really enjoying the light-up yo yo ball.





And his bath.



We made our monthly visit to the Missoula Children's Museum on Tuesday with Beth and her kids. Grandma watched the babies, while Beth and I chased after our toddlers. Then we went to lunch at this little hole in the wall called the Staggering Ox, which we heard had good sandwiches. I went with a safe choice: French Dip while she and Beth were a little more adventuresome with sandwiches called Cocked and Loaded, and I think Beth's was called Osama's Mama, with a side sauce of Camel Spit. No, I am not kidding! Check out their menu!


On Wednesday, we got our hair done, explored Hamilton's downtown, and ate lunch at The Bistro. That night, we brought in a chef to cook a special dinner. (Background info: one of the sales reps George has been working with for the last few months came over for dinner before Christmas. I am embarrassed to say it was just Schwan's lasagna and salad. I figured he'd be glad to have a "home-cooked" meal after almost a month on the road. A few days later, George tells me that Frank used to be a chef. Nice. A chef comes to dinner and I cook him frozen lasagna. LOL. Anyways, it was Frank's last week in town for a while so he wanted to make US dinner). He made a delicious salad with beets, goat cheese and balsamic vinaigrette and chicken piccata. YUM.

We also went to our usual Thursday Kindermusik class. Nate chewed on some music makers while Olivia sang songs about choo-choos and danced.

We sure did enjoy having Grandma here. The kids really soaked up all the attention and she was a big help to me around the house. She even washed my windows. "I can see clearly now..."

Needless to say, we were all sad to see her go. Even poor Buster has been sitting in the doorway of the spare room waiting for her to take him to bed. How sad is that?

We hope to see her again soon!

Saturday, February 09, 2008

Friday Antics

I've written before about Olivia wanting to spend time in Nathan's crib. Recently, I walked into her room and found her like this:



Apparently we have ourselves a little climber. She must have stepped on top of the space heater, and then climbed up on top of the diaper box. She still wasn't tall enough to get into the crib though.


Just a few moments later, she emerged from her tent, having developed this new patellar tendon device. Take a hair scrunchy, and add a few q-tips for extra stability on the tendon. Maybe she injured her knee climbing. :-)



She's Got the Beat

Here is our pint-size percusser rocking the drum machine that George's friend Russ gave her.

I really like the way she shakes her booty to the beat. Now I just need to figure out how to fix the volume button all the way down. LOL

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Olivia is Two!

Olivia had her golden birthday on Saturday. She turned 2 on the 2nd, which is also Groundhog Day. I guess Phil predicted 6 more weeks of winter (bah humbug) but things were warm with friends and good times at our house as we all helped Olivia celebrate her special day "Happy Feet" style. Friday night Theresa and I worked on the cake and cupcakes. She did a great job on the cupcakes, didn't she?

The two youngest members of the birthday brigade, Noah (with sister, Bree) and Nathan wished they could get in on the pizza and cake.


Here is the birthday girl wearing her Mumble mask and enjoying her pizza. Andrew said it was a good thing the mask didn't have a mouth so they could eat AND wear their masks.

Bree and Olivia posing for a picture after the pizza, and waiting for the cake!

After we finished singing Happy Birthday to Olivia, she broke out into Jingle Bells so we all chimed in on that song too. It was so funny! After Jingle Bells she blew out her candle, just like a pro!



Olivia, Andrew, and Bree enjoying their cake and ice cream.







Olivia had so many presents to open that it was almost like Christmas! I wish I would have gotten a picture of the mess in the living room. Bree and Andrew helped her get the packages opened and they all had fun playing with her new toys. One of the most popular toys was the doctor's kit from Elijah and Joshy. All three kids were taking turns being the doctor and finding a patient to heal. Olivia also spent quite awhile in front of her easel drawing. Unfortunately, she still thinks the walls and other vertical surfaces are fair game for "art work."

All in all, it was a great day, filled with fun and friends. It's hard to believe that our little girl is two already, and even harder to believe that in 7 short months, our little boy will be celebrating his 1st birthday. Time flies when you're having fun!





Saturday, February 02, 2008

Sleeping Beauty

Ok, well maybe it's not PC to call my studly little boy a "beauty" but he does look like something out of a fairy tale to me. Especially when he's sleeping with that little thumb in his mouth and fingers splayed across his face. I got a photography book for Christmas on how to photograph your baby. Take home message is: turn off the flash, use natural lighting, and get close! I've been practicing and took a few pictures of Nate the other day. Here are a few:








I'll keep practicing, and hopefully you'll see some progress. Of course, it's hard to take bad pictures of such cute kids.