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".

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

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!) 

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

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  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.  

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!  

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. :)