Auntie Dy visited!

Last month, we were so honored to spend the weekend with the glamorous and kindhearted Dyanelle (lady Dy; Darnell; D-elly). Despite the fact that her life is filled with Beverly Hills, fabulous parties, beautiful people, and LA events, she slowed down for a few days and hung out with the parents of a toddler and an infant in suburban Houston. And we loved it.

We took her to all the happening Woodlands locations (uh, the Waterway and Fielding's) and then decided that Austin is just a whole lot cooler so we day-tripped up on Sunday.

We had a delightful day, brunching on South Congress, stopping by a dog park on Town Lake, crashing our friend Courtney's dinner party.

And on Monday, we gave Dy a taste of real Texas at Old Town Spring, where unfortunately almost everything was closed even though it was a holiday! We did some window-shopping, peered into the windows of the semi-famous Doll Hospital, let one of the few store-owners with an open shop coo over beautiful Emily, and took some photos in the caboose restaurant (oops, I guess those photos are on Joe's phone - will have to add later). Sadly, the deep-fried Oreo stand was closed; obviously, Dy must return on a busier weekend.

Em 5 months

Never-before-seen photos from the 5-month birthday!!

From what I can recall, she was pretty cool at 5 months. Squirmy, squirmy, squirmy! She had just figured out rolling over back to front a few days before her birthday and it's all she was doing. Roll, grunt, get really peeved, scream and cry, get turned over, repeat. I love the last 5-month photos we took, where she is demonstrating how very squirmy she is.

We love you, sweet Emily Hope!

6 months

 

Poor Emily. She's got a terrible case of second-babyitis. She'll be 7 months this weekend and I'm yet to give her a 6-month and even a 5-month blog update. And while much of the purpose of this blog is to be a digital scrapbook with all her milestones, I can't remember what she was doing at 5 or 6 months, other than being super-duper cute.

So... Yay! Baby girl is 6 months old already!! She's a noisy little lady, mostly with grunts and groans and the occasional adorable giggle. She loves rolling, from back to front and front to back, and then spends her time lifting her torso and getting extremely angry that she's not going anywhere. Crawling is sure to be right around the corner.

She started eating solids a little before 6 months, when we were at a party and she dove for a piece of pineapple I was holding. She then gnawed the pineapple to wet, saggy bits and went after more pineapple, some strawberry, and a couple other pieces of fruit. I think she would tell you it was totally worth the pineapple rash she had on her chin for the rest of the evening.

She has 3 super cute teeth, 2 on bottom and 1 on top, and we're expecting the 4th any day now. She really can use those teeth, which is why we're strongly encouraging binky use (to spare our tender nail beds). She's had moments of fussiness probably due to teething, but generally she's just an angel.

Still sleeping through the night, except when she's under the weather. She seems more susceptible to colds and other viral yicks than E was but that may be my imagination.

She definitely smiles and laughs more now, but you still have to earn your smiles - not an indiscriminately happy little baby like E was/is. And it's still a little disturbing when she looks at you for more than a few seconds - it really feels like she is studying every part of you and boring into your soul...

It would be impossible to overstate how very blessed we are with our 2 beautiful babies. Em has been such an easy little girl. Hopefully she won't have a huge chip on her shoulder from all the missing blog updates when she gets to be a teenager.

Beautiful baby boy

Ethan turned 17 months with panache last week. He's such an entertaining kid. He's so curious about everything. He loves puzzles and can find where the pieces go, although he doesn't usually put them in the correct orientation. He won't continue the puzzle, though, until his assistant spins the piece so it drops into position. I suspect he's doing it on purpose. 

He is happiest when he is outdoors. The cold doesn't bother him at all. This week the temps have been in the 70s, which his caregivers greatly appreciate during our frequent jaunts outside. Today he let me know that the t-shirt and jeans he was wearing were too cumbersome, so I took them off and he happily wandered the streets in his diaper (cloth, so he still looked moderately dapper). 

His vocabulary is gradually growing. He's added 'bye' recently, though it usually sounds like 'die', which hasn't caused too many uncomfortable situations yet. He mostly sticks to his old favorites, uh-oh, wow, and yeah, which get him through most situations. Oh, he still doesn't say 'no' but he shakes his head with an adorable 'unh-uh'. 

He is a master sidewalk chalk artist and has now discovered the joy of crayons. Most of his creations consist of many dashes across the page, which I find utterly beautiful. 

He's a great hugger. For a few weeks as soon as you asked he would run up for a hug. Now his hugs are more often given to his stuffed animals, but he will still offer hugs to mom and dad sporadically. He's also given me kisses several times. That's just about the best feeling in the world. 

His favorite things right now: balls, sidewalk chalk, water, stacking things, puzzles. 

He continues to be fiercely independent. He only takes your hand if he needs assistance climbing onto a curb. He can't yet dress himself but he wants to. When he's standing in his 'learning tower' in the kitchen and I lean on the edge, he will often push my arm away to let me know I'm getting in his space.

Not a fan of Santa this year, like every other 1-year-old.  

4 months (plus a little)

Emily Hope turned 4 months old a few days (ok, weeks) ago. We did take 4-month photos but mama didn't get around to posting till now. 

This kid is a spitfire. She's got a delightful, easygoing personality - until things don't go her way. Then she rages (much like her mama, actually)! Most of the time, lucky for us, things do go her way. She's still sleeping through the night, though this week has been a bit rough due to teething. She has one itty bitty tooth coming through and she's drooling like mad. She gnaws on our shoulders, fingers, anything we're holding. 

She rolled from front to back for the first time on 12/7, just before her 4-month birthday, but she refuses to repeat the feat. She is really not a fan of tummy time. She does seem to want to crawl - she pushes herself up on her knees but can't get forward propulsion without parental assistance. When she's on her back, she loves rolling to her side - it won't be long before she rolls over. 

It's just delightful to see her taking the world in. She studies our faces, her brother when he's playing, the TV, the fan. While she definitely smiles and laughs, it's only when she's considered the situation and deemed it sufficiently amusing. No smiles for the ceiling fan, like E used to give willy-nilly. If you have received a smile from Em, you can feel proud that you've earned it. 

We haven't tried 'real food' yet since she doesn't seem particularly interested. I'm looking forward to continuing the tradition of baby-led weaning (modified) with Em starting around 6 months. 

Look who's 4 months!!!

3 months already!!

Miss Emily turned 3 months old yesterday!

She's such a lovely little lady. With quite an unladylike propensity to toot and belch, but that's to be expected, I guess. 

She doesn't smile as often as her brother but when she smiles you know she means it. We pulled out the bouncer a few weeks ago because she loves to stand and kick. She loves it! If she's a little irritable we can drop her in the bouncer and she'll bliss out for a while. 

I'm almost sad that she's growing up so fast. Some day soon she won't nap on our chests while massaging our arms anymore, and there aren't any more babies coming. 

She's such a mellow little lady. The only time she cries is just before she falls asleep - and then she gets a bit hysterical, turning a deep red and crying so much she forgets to breathe. Then within 2 or 3 minutes she's out. 

Happy 1/4-birthday, sweet Emmy!

Hiiii.

My new favorite thing: When a car passes by our house, E does his little reverse wave (holds his hand beside his cheek, palm facing back, and flaps his little fingers) and sighs in this soft, itty bitty voice, 'Hiiii.' Adorable. Hopefully video footage to follow.

His vocabulary right now includes Hi, Yeah, Uh-oh, On/Off (which unfortunately both come out as 'Ah'), Ooh, and Wow. So fun to watch him point at passing airplanes and say Wow. Or draw on the driveway with sidewalk chalk and say Wow at his own creation. Or throw his food on the ground and say Uh-oh. 

It feels like any day now he's going to really start talking and just not stop. Knowing his pedigree, it's likely that he won't stop for at least 45 years...