Ain't she sweet ...

Just a couple of pictures of our little lady, lately. (Can you see that she's been eating a lot of orange veggies? It shows in her nose! But we know her pretty skin tone will be getting back to normal soon, now that she is eating a greater variety of foods.) Love that sweet smile!

More pictures

Elijah loves to read.

Hello.

Just taking a break from a busy day of playing.

Bubba pics

Just a couple recent pictures of the boy -

Last week he woke up from a nap in a funk, and with some serious bed head ...

Zoiks!

On Sunday, Elijah was just relaxing while Daddy and Mama got ready ...

Oh, so cozy

This morning

Cuties watching Sesame Street this morning

Tickling

Just a little Shmuffin baby laughter to brighten your day!

Almost 9 months

Molly will be nine months old this week! We took her to the doctor for her well baby check yesterday. She is well and growing, and doing everything she ought to be. The big thing she's working on lately is crawling. She can get around pretty much anywhere she wants to go now, but she's still traveling with her belly on the floor. She spends a lot of time rocking on her hands and knees though, so I'm sure she'll take off one of these days! For now I'm kind of thankful - I can still get to where ever she's going faster than she can, and so I can keep her out of things if I watch her carefully. That technique isn't going to continue to work, so I'm trying to figure out how to best baby-proof this place. We lived in a different place and even had some different furniture the last time we had someone crawling around and pulling up on things, so the basics are there, but we'll have to come up with some new solutions to fit this place. Plus Elijah is going to have to remember to keep some of his toys out of reach. For now, we are enjoying watching her figure things out. She does a lot of scooting around in circles and backwards, so she often finds herself stuck with her bottom wedged under the furniture, or with one leg on either side of a leg of the furniture. It's pretty funny, except for the frustrated screaming that starts as soon as she realizes where she is.


Molly has really been enjoying eating food, and has a good appetite. She has liked everything we've given her so far. She especially loves her Cheerios. Now that she's started picking them up between her finger and thumb we're going to start trying other kinds of finger food. I'm sure she'll love it! We're also going to try to start learning to use a cup. It's hard to believe our little Miss Molly is so grown up already.

Molly has also become quite a little Mama's girl lately. She started having some separation anxiety around 7 months old, and has now decided she doesn't want anyone to hold her but Mama or Daddy (or sometimes Uncle Luke!). She has even begun to fall apart if a stranger talks to her (which happens several times every time we go to the grocery store), but all she needs is for Mama to hold her and she usually calms right down. One of her favorite activities is to stand in my lap and yank out, um, I mean, play with my hair.

Here's a little video of Molly's various styles of moving around. (Don't mind her crazy outfit - these things happen sometimes.)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The Shmuffins go green.

A very happy St. Patrick's Day to you all! We had a nice day today, and even got to play at the park. It was warm enough to go out wearing just hats and spring jackets - how lovely! I was super excited to pull out the Ireland jacket for Miss Molly. It was one of our very favorite gifts for Elijah, and I think it's so cute on Molly, too!

Firetrucks!

On Saturday, we spent a fun day at the Hebron Maple Festival with Jackie & Luke and the kids. We all had a great time. Elijah especially enjoyed going to the fire station and seeing all the fire trucks. We got to get in and see the trucks up close - there were two pumper trucks, a tanker truck, and an ambulance - and we got to see a demonstration of the big ladder truck outside. I guess we didn't do a whole lot of the maple-themed part of the fair, but we did enjoy the fair food - hamburgers, chili dogs, cotton candy, and fried dough. Wow! It's a good thing we only eat like that a couple of times a year!

Elijah is as tall as the tire!

In the ambulance with Jackie and Lily

With a real fireman! Elijah wasn't afraid of him at all.

Noah, Elijah and Lily in the jump seats - ready for action!

Cotton candy!

Watching the ladder truck

Our blue-eyed boy

Here are some pictures I took of Elijah while he ate his lunch today. His cheeks are still all rosy from playing at the playground before lunch - it was a little cold, but he had a great time and Molly even did well for longer than usual. Anyway, here is our darn cute little man, eating and contemplating, "What do cars do?" "How do cars go?" "What do tractors do?" "What do trains do?" "What do school buses do?" etc., etc., etc.

Sorry about the messy face, but he's two and eating his lunch ...





Have a happy Friday!

Building blocks

Elijah has been really enjoying his building blocks this week. Here is one of the towers he built yesterday. I think it is fun to watch him try to figure things out. Molly thinks it's fun to try to reach the tower and knock it down!

Welcome home, Daddy!

We're so glad to have Patrick home again after a five-day work trip to Seattle. I took advantage of Molly's new waving skill to make this video with this kids for him while he was gone. It took me a few tries to actually get her to wave, but we caught it eventually! You can also hear Elijah's new phrase at the end - he uses it in very appropriate moments, and it cracks me up every time!

Hi

Just some pictures of Molly being her cute self for today. The kiddos are sick again (just colds, but still no fun), so we are just laying low right now.

Boys

Yes, he is definitely a boy.

Elijah made a train tunnel out of my rain boots today.
I never would have guessed that you could stand them upside down like that!

Playing in the snow

This morning we got all bundled up and went out to play in the snow. Elijah brought some of his beach toys out to play with - they seem to work pretty well for either snow or sand! It was pretty cold, but Elijah had a great time. We went in when Molly let us know that she had had enough, though. When we got inside they both had cold noses and cheeks, but otherwise were warm and toasty under all their layers.

I don't think Molly enjoyed the snow as much as Elijah.
"Mama, I can't move!"

Playing together

Just a couple of pictures of the kiddos playing. I think it's fun when they can play together!