Friday, December 14, 2012

Emily's First Haircut


I took Emily to get her first real haircut last week.  She loved it, although not as much as she loved the popcorn we got afterwards.  :)




Saturday, December 8, 2012

Christmas

Our tree is up and Emily is loving the Advent calendar.  Alasdair randomly dressed the girls in Christmas outfits one day last week.  All day people were asking me if we were getting pictures taken... so I attempted a few on my phone... right before nap time, while Adara needed her diaper changed.  Not the best quality, but so it goes.


Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Things We Are Into

It's been awhile since I did one of these!    Actually, the last one I can find is from two years ago.  (Eek, this makes me so nostalgic.)

Emily
Her "USA" outfit.  This came in a box of hand me downs from our good friends.  Emily wore it to gymnastics  once and her teacher commented on it... so of course she's worn it every Friday since.  (It's now a running joke at gymnastics.)  This week, she's tried to wear it every day, and hates having it covered up by a sweatshirt... so she is always cold.  I wasn't in the mood for a fight, so she wore it under her church clothes on Sunday.  I've snuck it away to the laundry pile today!  (Alasdair & I agree that this might be the best picture of her ever taken.  That she spontaneously made the 'not impressed' face makes it even better.)







Writing.  She's just taken an interest in drawing letters.  I found her here writing a note to Uncle Alden on my grocery list.  She's always asking me for a pen.  Setting up scenes with all of her stuff animals. Often lately they are all in school and she is the teacher, or they are all her 'kids' and she is reading them a story, or they are all having a picnic.  Watching PBS kids on the iPad.  Watching out for her sister.  When she's not knocking Adara over or taking her toys, she's very concerned for her safety.  While playing on the couch the other day, Adara kept leaning over the arm and Emily would grab her shirt and tell her not to fall.  I told her to stop yanking on Adara, that she was fine... and Adara promptly fell on her head.  Later, I was letting Adara wander around while we watched Alasdair tie the Christmas tree to the roof of the car, and Emily was very nervous, kept asking me to pick Adara up because we were near the parking lot.

Adara
EVERYTHING.  She constantly has her arm extended, grunting and grabbing at anything she isn't allowed to touch.  If she doesn't pull down the Christmas tree, it will be a minor miracle.  Walking.  She really doesn't crawl anymore, and she's moving fast!  Today I was focused on Emily for a minute while I put the recycling in the car, and I looked up to find Adara had followed the cat down the driveway and across the street. (Minor panic!  I guess it's a good thing Emily watches out for her.)  Climbing. We now have a little stool by the front window and she's delighted to be able to look out.  Books.  She's constantly bringing me  "Baby Bear Baby Bear" or"Polar Bear Polar Bear" (from the 'What do you see?' series).  She loves to drink out of my cup.  She wants constant attention and activity.  Loves to go to bed (throws her bunny into the crib and then lunges out of my arms).  Her sister.  She adores Emily ("Umi").  At bedtime, she will say night night to all of us, but will lean past mommy or daddy to give Emily kisses (despite the fact that Emily rejects them 50% of the time).  

Monday, November 26, 2012

Thanksgiving

We had a happy and busy Thanksgiving in Westford!  Lots of family & cousin time, a soccer game from which I am still sore, and many walks around Grassy Pond.  As usual, I didn't take any pictures and have to get them from other people.  Also as usual, there are only pictures of the kids, and mostly the younger ones as Emily & Rosalie were off on their own most of the time.  :)  


Syndey * Daniel * Rosalie * Emily *Adara

The evening after Thanksgiving, when the house was full of my cousins (so happy!!), Emily sidled over to me and said, "It's too crowded in here" while Adara toddled around in her turkey dress (that I swear Rosalie was wearing just yesterday! Was this really 2 years ago?) grabbing on to everyone's legs and happy for the attention.  Adara was especially happy to play with Syndey, and pat her (see photo above), and she loved "meeting" her newest 2nd cousin, Maggie, via Skype... she laughed and poked at the screen until we dragged her away.



Addendum: I just found these photos on Alasdair's phone.  We stopped to visit his Aunt Abby, Uncle Paul and cousin Cathy on our way to MA, and they thoughtfully set out the perfect toys & snacks for the girls.  Emily warmed right up to "Granny's sister".





Sunday, November 4, 2012

Stats

(Whoops, I meant to post this a week ago!)

I took both girls to the doctor for check ups this week.  They both did great!   Poor Adara had to get 4 shots and a blood draw. :(   Luckily we had her newly discovered favorite doll along to cheer her up.

Emily at 3 years & 4 months - 34lbs (68%) and 3'4" tall (89%)  She's wearing 4T these days, size 8 shoes
Adara at 13 months - 20lbs (28%) and 2'6" tall (67%)  Wearing 12mo, size 4 shoes

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Halloween


The only piece of advice the sellers gave us when we bought this house was to expect a lot of trick or treaters!  We apparently didn't take them seriously enough, since we ran out of candy towards the end.  Aside from that though, the night was a huge hit.  We didn't go out, but dressed the girls up to hand out candy.  I wasn't sure what Emily would think about all the kids coming to the house, but both girls loved it!  Once Emily got the idea, she did all of the candy-handing on her own, only running away from the door to find me if there was a particularly scary costume (leaving the poor kid standing on the doorstep).  In between visitors, my shy child leaned out the front door, yelling "Happy Halloween!  Come over here and get some candy!  Do you want any chocolate?"  She didn't even complain about not eating the candy, and was happy with the one little piece we managed to save her at the end.  Adara crawled/walked/danced around, grabbing candy out of the bowl and throwing it in delight, and even putting a few pieces in bags too.

 

(Pardon the formatting, blogger doesn't seem to want to center these photos!) 

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Steps & Laughter

Emily & Adara have laughed more together this week than ever before.  :)   Adara will crawl into Emily's hiding place behind the couch, and they will just giggle at each other (until something happens and Adara cries).  Adara is starting to stand up on her own and take a few steps... which delights her to no end.  She laughs and claps, and falls over, and does it again.  It's totally different from when Emily learned to walk.  Emily cruised on furniture for ages, and didn't really take steps until she was ready to walk.  I don't remember her falling down a lot.  Adara just gets such a kick out of trying that she falls constantly.  Emily loves "helping" her.

Joy in the process


Success



Tuesday, October 9, 2012

1



 










  Lots of people have said, "I can't believe Adara is a year old!"  To me, life before her seems so far away that I can believe it!  Looking back through her "month" photos I find that even the young baby times seem very distant.  (That's probably a good reminder about how fast this all goes, as Adara has been challenging lately!  I'm crossing my fingers that it's a phase - or those 1 year molars coming in -  but she has been ornery.)  In better news, she took two tiny steps today!  She was standing in the kitchen, delighted with herself for being upright, laughing & clapping and just concentrating so hard on trying to move.  

Friday, September 28, 2012

Lately

I wanted to share some miscellaneous thoughts & pictures, no real theme here.

Earlier this month, we spent an evening with my MA family.  We met my cousin Angie's baby (Syndey is 3 months younger than Adara) and modeled my some of my great grandmothers hats.  The next day, Dianna & I did a triathlon - so much fun.  Due to the amount of spandex involved, there will be no photos here.



My friend Jill & I have started a kiddo swap - I take her two (the same ages as mine) once a week, and she takes mine the next day.  It's wonderful.  


Adara loves to climb.  Her sister also loves to pick her up and put her in a cubby.



Adara is getting more challenging (read: opinionated) as she approaches a year old, but she is more fun as well.  She constantly wants to walk around holding our hands, loves going to "Romp & Stomp" (kids story/song/dance time at the library) with the big kids, and has started the sweetest little night time routine.  She says "na na" and does her little thumb-only wave, and then gives us "kisses" (she says "muh" and then leans her face into ours).  In her room I hold her and sing Jesus Loves Me, and she lays her head on my shoulder, hugs her bunny, and "sings" along.  These are the things I hope I don't forget!  

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Self Feeding


Adara successfully fed herself a bowl of yogurt tonight!  I took this photo because it was the first time she managed to get the food into her mouth instead of all over her head. :)  

Friday, September 7, 2012

Weekend Away

Emily had a weekend away at Westport with my parents, Grammy T and Mike, Bekah, Rosalie & Daniel.  She's pretty attached to mom & dad, so I floated the idea to her last Monday, thinking I might need to get her comfortable with it.  Before I even finished my explanation of how Mimi was going to come pick her up, her face lit up and she couldn't stop smiling.  I spent the rest of the week answering the question "Is it Friday yet?"  Alasdair & I had a great weekend with just Adara, and painted our kitchen/dining room & mudroom.  (Apparently that's a theme, since the last time my mom took Emily to the lake by herself, I painted the kitchen!)  The big weekend did not disappoint!  When Mimi, Papa & GG showed up on Friday, Emily buckled herself into the car immediately and waited there while we all chatted and packed her up.  When my mom had her call me that night to say goodnight, Emily said "Goodnight Mama, I'm not sad!"  I'm told she was very well behaved and had a great time.

 Snuggling with GG

 Celebrating Daniel's 2nd birthday

 Frogging with Papa


Tuesday, September 4, 2012

11 Months



It's amazing how many pictures you can take of two small children and not get a single good one.  (More from the 'photo shoot' here.)  Adara at 11 months is increasingly mobile; crawls like a champ and loves to walk around holding onto our fingers.  Still shows those two bottom teeth when she smiles, but hiding 4 more up top.  She's a pretty good eater, but seems to be getting a little more picky, and is frustratingly determined to feed herself (or us) everything but still terrible at getting a spoon to her mouth.  Points to things she's interested in.  Anything she's been told not to touch, or isn't sure about, or she doesn't like, she points to and says "no" sharply and shakes her head.   She's also increasingly interactive.  First thing in the morning she can be found standing in her crib 'talking'to Emily.  She's become interested in books, and still loves to play peekaboo.  She puts her hands on her face and says something like "yaya dada" (where's adara) until we respond.  She also has a new favorite game... when I nurse her before bed I sit on Emily's bed, and she will stop eating and crawl as fast as she can, giggling, to the far side of the bed.  When I hold out my hands for her to come back, she laughs and crawls away again.  


Friday, August 31, 2012

Us at 30


When I turned 29, my mother-in-law wrote in my birthday card something like "Congratulations!  You've reached the age all women seem to want to stay forever.  I'm not sure why. :)"  It made me smile, and it stuck with me for some reason.  Alasdair & I both turned 30 this month, and really, we feel pretty good about it!  Although most of the time I still don't feel like a grown up, I'm ok with getting older and so grateful to be where we are in life right now.  Of course life isn't always easy (and sometimes it's really hard!), but our 20's were good to us: finishing college, getting married, two years as campus ministers with the Navigators, 4 years in Philly (our first house, my first "real" job and Alasdair's 3 years in seminary and first counseling jobs, and of course becoming parents!), and now 2 years back in NH, starting the counseling center and becoming parents to 2.  We often marvel at how good God has been to us in providing great churches and community at every step of the way.  We've lived in 5 places since getting married, and in the last three years we've had two babies, started a company, and moved three times (plus an office move).  We are very happy be "settled" for the foreseeable future!!  

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Family Reunion

Last weekend we had the whole Groves family (and family-to-be) at our house!  It was so much fun to be all together.  We visited cousins at Lake Mascoma (I met Dan's wife Heidi & new daughter Moriah for the first time).  Family games of basketball and soccer, a full table and good time sitting around the living room talking.... exactly the things we've been envisioning in this new house!

I am kicking myself for not getting a group picture.