At the river

And close-ups of the kids. Zach promptly fell asleep in Daddy's (and then Mama's) arms as we made our way around town. We looked in a bookstore (surprise surprise! ;-), at the ducks and swans, and in knick-knack stores (at 'trinklets' as great-grandma would say).

We didn't stay out too late so as to still have some relaxing time at home that evening. But one couldn't ask for a better February day out! Temps in the 60s and just a misting or two of rain.

Mama made her ninth visit to the gym in this her first month as a member (we are very proud of her). Zach slept like a champ all day and in the evening (but less so at night, so we're still working on that...perhaps less sleeping in the car would help ;-)

President's Day

And we celebrated Dan's day off with a road trip! About an hour car ride from home is New Hope, PA and a different view of the Delaware river. A cute little town with lots of color, water, shops and animals (birds and fishes). I especially enjoyed spending time with Daddy, just the two of us. He lets me run around, and jumps up and down with me. Mama fed Zach and looked in stores while we stayed out with the big stroller.

Mama was impressed to see me "run running" and then coming to a nice, complete jump stop. She mentioned this to Daddy, and he figured it meant some good thing about me eventually being a basketball star. ;-)

Mama took just me into a classy French store (and told me not to touch anything). It was so pretty in there and Mama talked to the lady about dish ware the same pattern that she bought in France years back. All this time I stood quietly and still, not touching anything like a good girl. But as soon as we got outside, I was OFF -- running and whooping and laughing hard. It's nice to be able to turn it on and off. (haha)

The Z man

Looking every bit of 10 weeks. ;-)

My first slinky

Caleigh got the hang of making the slinky go all the way down the steps after a few tries. Fresh from a bath with Daddy while Mama took some time to put clean clothes away (yes...another 'fun with two kids under two' weekend night ;-), Caleigh enjoyed doing this "again!" and "again!" Just as she cheers herself on with saying her ABCs and 123s, she was encouraged by her progress in this technical skill too.

Ms Brock came to visit

Mama and Daddy's good friend from the Washington DC area came for a visit this weekend. She met Zach and saw Caleigh for the first time in six months. We had fun together -- talking, playing, reading books, taking a walk, going to church, eating, playing...

Thanks for visiting! Come back soon.

Self portrait

Caleigh really likes to "push the button" on the camera. Over Christmas she took lots of pictures of Dan. Recently, though, she has decided that if she turns the camera around she can take her own picture. Makes for some interesting "posterity shots."

Caleigh is getting taller

And can now turn all the doorknobs to enter/exit rooms (and the house!). Great timing as she will move into her big girl room and big girl bed (twin) within the month. We plan to grace her door with added layer of "safety" -- a baby gate. ;-)

She is such a good girl. When asked to "stand right there" she does. She usually comes when asked, holds a hand willingly when outside & it's necessary, and puts things away, etc. But I'm still locking the deadbolt during the day now even though she asks me nicely to "Mama, unlock the door please" so she can open/close it whenever she likes. Nope! ;-)

She is using the "no" word more with us. We are trying to be vigilant in not letting her get away with that and enforcing the 'obey the first time' stance. It takes so much energy, but it's worth it. She is well aware of the limits and gives herself away that she has a good memory. Unprovoked she will tell Mama/Daddy that the other said "Caleigh don't scream" or "Caleigh don't throw stuff" or "Caleigh don't say no." She is getting it!

He cries

Lest you think he is a perfect child -- sleeping 7, 8, & 9 hours at a stretch at night at 10 weeks, going to sleep by himself in the bassinet regularly, smiling and cooing incessantly, and generally being a very easy baby....he does cry! And he is getting more likely to do more than whimper. But we are thankful that he is easily appeased and quiets down quickly.

Getting ready for church

Our kids look fairly nice everyday (okay there are some days where we stay in our PJs until it's time to...well, get in our PJs again...unless we spit up on them or cake them with oatmeal...) -- anyway, they tend to look even better on Sunday mornings.

Here is Caleigh in a snazzy number (thanks, Brook!) & looking quite preppy. And Zachary in his cool boy clothes. And, yes, he has now officially grown out of this shirt that I love (3 mns.).

Caleigh absolutely LOVES her brother. And Zach is highly entertained by her. She is very attentive to him and rarely seems jealous of all the attention he requires. He smiles at her, especially when she gets right up in his face and says his name. He is a champion frailer (with his arms and legs). He's "punched" Caleigh's face a couple times and she looks at him and us, holding her face, like "why did he do that?" but we are assured he has not hurt her. ;-)

By the way, we are as astonished as you to find that we are now over the 500 posts mark on our blog. WOW!

Cousins, Mack and Krey

Thanks Kelly, for sending pictures of your handsome boys.

Mama didn't get a good picture of Krey over Christmas when we met him so here they are! Mack is 6 weeks older than Caleigh and Krey is 2 weeks younger than Zachary. Crazy close in age cousins!! Now if we all just lived closer together... ;-) Regardless, I'm sure we'll be good friends and play nicely at Grandma and Papa's house -- right guys!?

What a blessing that they are all healthy, beautiful children growing up in happy, Christian homes.

Thanks Uncle Logan!!

I love my camouflage outfit. I use it to hide from Caleigh (hahahahaha) -- just kidding.

HERE is my dimple! The best view of it yet. Mama wasn't joking (or seeing things in her tired, hazy state) when she said I had one. And now, after two months, I'm prepared for someone else besides her to see it too.

To the zoo!

To celebrate -- Zach 2 months and Caleigh 23 months old! So big!! Caleigh liked pointing out animals to Zachary, who slept through the ENTIRE trip. ;-) We were surprised to see the elephants were still at our zoo (as they were supposed to go to greener, more spacious pastures last fall). The polar bear gave us a show, playing in the water and with the balls in his habitat (we'd never seen that before!). And, again, Mama found an animal/space in the zoo she hadn't seen before...it's getting ridiculous as we've been members for almost 2 years. We saw capybaras in person for the first time (a semi-aquatic rodent of South America, in case you're wondering...)! We only read about these creatures in Caleigh's Leap Frog book of animal sounds. Who knew they were almost in our backyard.

Zach is 2 months

Stats -- 14lbs 7 oz and 25 inches long. WOW! [95% on both charts.]

He smiled at the doctor a couple times and flailed his little arms and legs around happily. She said soon he should be cooing, and he cooed at her...he can 'coo on cue'! We have already been enjoying his wonderful little noises, and look forward to more. She also laid him on his tummy and he immediately lifted his head well off the table and looked around...until he found Mama, laid his head down and smiled at me. Ah.....

Thanks for the ultra-cute outfit, Kristen (let's go fishing)! And these are the Timberland shoes Oma got Caleigh a couple years ago. Yeah for unisex clothing!!

Pics from Zach's 2 month birthday

Zach was just hanging around in his t-shirt and laughing on his two-month birthday. He's getting more generous with his smiles, and sometimes we can even see a dimple on his left cheek (maybe in the 2nd pic here)!

What will the next months bring? Rolling over...more cooing and babbling...moving to the crib and his own room...more head control...grasping for toys...and more joy!

Light on Caleigh

It has been brought to my attention that my last flurry of postings was heavy on Zachary pics and light on Caleigh. So...today it's all about Caleigh (although she had 21 months of just her before Zach was born!) Okay...there were those ultrasound shots. ;-)

Anyway - here are pictures from these last two days with Caleigh. How old does my little baby girl look! She'll be 23 months in two days.

We had a fun visit from Mrs. Kristen Harnly and her daughter, Allison, today. They managed to get Caleigh to wear a hair clip!! Now Mama just needs a lesson in how to put them in 'cutely.' ;-)

Zach and Squish

Happily (mostly!) playing together...and taking a little munch along the way.

Zach and the activity mat

Here is Zach having fun on the activity mat -- kicking his feet to hear the chimes and slapping his fist around to hit the flying animals overhead.

Fun stuff to see -- incoming monkey!!

Zachary on his activity mat. Caleigh has finally stopped wanting to climb in it and play too. ;-)

Zach appears to study the animals and then strike out at them, usually making contact with his cute little fist. He was kicking the chimes for good measure, too. We've learned not to overstimulate by putting him in the middle of the mat -- being able to see just one or two flying animals overhead seems to be his limit.