Nicole's Birthday

Be prepared for an onslaught of birthday-party posts in the near future! It seems like all their friends were born in the first half of the year and we typically go to at least one or two parties a month from now until the summer! Today's party was Nicole's. Emily loved getting her face painted for the first time and Ben had a blast playing with his friends!


Rainbow-Brite.
Emily, on the subject of rainbows: "When I'm a rainbow, I'll be able to go up into the sky":)

Ben-Ben found a super-cool dumptruck toy and couldn't bear the thought of sharing it.
He spent much of the party playing with it solo.

L-R: Nicole, Piper, Nora, Emmie and Ben

What's more fun than a Diego figurine? Two, naturally!

Christmas in January

Sadly, I didn't get to see any of my extended family over the holidays but we're making up for it when possible! My Aunt Colleen and cousin Maureen(yes, we're Irish!) stopped by for a visit last night and brought some presents from their family and my other Aunt Maureen(and yes, we're all named after each other!). Ben, Emily and Callie were all pleased as punch to have visitors to show off for:) Emily brought out many of her precious and coveted items for them to admire and Ben was very entertaining as he jumped, tumbled and danced around. He's like a puppy when people come over! Callie was is heaven once I handed her the crinkly hologram tissue-paper from the gift bags. She wriggled and bounced with delight as she crinkled it and gummed it! I know what she's getting next year;)


Callie with her Grantie(Great-Aunt) Colleen

Tickles from Nina
(as I've mentioned before, B and E call my cousin Maureen "nina" which is Spanish for Godmother)

He's wearing underwear, I promise;)

Ben with his all-time favorite person!

Grease Lightening, Baby!

The latest celebrity incarnation of Callie's hair:

John Travolta as Danny Zuko...swoon!

6 Months Old!

Is it ridiculous to be increasingly more confused by just how fast the time is racing by? Because on the 10th of each month for the past six months, I really am more shocked than I was the month before. Where is the time going? How are they stealing these minutes and hours; these days and weeks and where the hell are they keeping them? I look at Callie and she still seems so little to me. She really doesn't look old enough, in my mind's eye, to be 6 months old. I was shocked(shocked!) to see how big she looked in these pictures. She's officially an "older baby" now:( Everything from this point on leads up to independence. It's so amazing to think about how much she's changed in the last six months and to know how much more she'll learn and grow from this point on!

She had her 6 month appointment today and narrowly averted getting 4 shots by coming down with a cold in the middle of the night! She's right on track to become America's Next Top Baby Model, weighing in at a slender 14 pounds, 6 ounces(25th percentile) and measuring a long 26 1/4 inches(70th percentile). Developmentally, she's absolutely perfect! We have reintroduced rice cereal earlier in the week and it was a staggering success. She's moved on to oatmeal(next stop, barley, which neither her brother or sister ever enjoyed). After that, we're on the fast-track to purees with the expectation that she samples all the main ones and begins eating two meals a day around 7 months old. That might help with the long and lanky thing;)

She FINALLY learned to roll off her belly, although she doesn't always manage it yet. She's also sitting for a few seconds before she lunges for something out of reach and topples over. And! My very favorite thing of all! She says "Mamamama"! Dan swears she says "dadadadada" too, but I've yet to hear the phrase come off her lips. So there you have it! Now onto the best part. Her pictures. Enjoy:)

Sweet, chubby little cherub

Her signature look, "Pink Steel"

Big Sissy and Little Sissy, though Little Sissy looks alarming big next to her older sister!

Sissy-Kissies

Emmie...She's pink and friendly!

Emmie found Callie's cutest headband(made by my insanely talented friend Rinny) and just had to try it on. She looked in the mirror and was delighted by her resemblance to Foofa, of Yo Gabba Gabba. We don't watch that show often, but Emily loves Foofa. Because, well, she's pink and friendly!


Emmie as Foofa

Foofa, in all her girly, pink glory!

Emmie, singing, "Foofa...she's pink and friendly!" as the song goes.

Doing a twirly-whirly dance

Mr. Independent

It was bound to happen, I suppose. As hard as I tried, Ben figured out a way to grow up. No longer is he my sweet baby, nor is he a funny little toddler. He's a preschooler and soon-to-be KINDERGARTENER. I don't know where the past 4 years and 4 months has gone, but I desperately want them back! If only to snuggle my little guy just a little longer. He's a great reminder to enjoy his baby and little sisters each moment:)
Anyway, I jokingly refer to him as Terrance the Teenager now because he is 4 going on 14. He talks back to me, says things like, "I'm busy." and "Whatever". I was frustrated at him for something and said, "Thanks a lot, Ben, for blah blah blah". His response? "You're NOT welcome". Ouch! He also has become really independent. He gets himself dressed with no prodding(and, obviously no input!) from me. If he's hungry? He gets himself a snack. If he's thirsty and there's a cup handy? He opens the fridge and pours himself a drink! He'll go into the freezer, get out a frozen waffle, pop it in the toaster and then let me know when I need to put the butter and jelly on it. He uses the microwave like he was born doing it. It's pretty wonderful, actually!
The bittersweetness of it all is that for every new skill he acquires, something babyish goes by the wayside. I *know* I should be happy about it, but it tugs at my heart:( My Baby Bear isn't a baby anymore.

So big, SO handsome!

Another awesome outfit by Terrance;)

Bigger girl, bigger toys!

Callie...Callie...Callie...this girl has been running me ragged lately! In an ever-increasing attempt to find safe places to stash her that will both entertain her, keep her out of harm's way(i.e. away from the Daring Duo) and possibly give me a few moment's peace without a babe in arms, we've brought out two 'ol favorites. Well, brought out one old favorite and had to replace the second because we loaned it out and the borrowers are still using it! Anyway, enter the Exersaucer and the Jumperoo!
So far, the Exersaucer kind of scares her(there's a spinner with beads in it that makes her cry!) but she LOVES the Jumperoo. If she is fed, dry and ready to play, she will happily jump for awhile! The new one we bought? So much fun! It has cool toys all the way around it, unlike our old, boring one;) Plus, I got it for mega-cheap on clearance! Lucky Baby=)

She's actually smiling!!

Jump jump jump!

She learned how to bounce and work all the toys really quickly. She's obviously a genius!

Ben and Emily love the toy in front, too. It sings, makes funny noises and lights up.


And, since it's been 2 weeks since my last blog post, I thought I'd add some old