still life

It's always difficult to have Charlotte keep still for a second
(although she has the rare toddler moments where she loves to model for a photo)... but now that Noah is on the move too,
moments like this are almost impossible to capture!

big girl

Although Charlotte wanted to be four (her favorite number) for the longest time before her third birthday, she's been loving to be three - often exclaiming "I can do this... I'm a big girl now, I am 3!!!"

And big girls know what they want: For her third birthday, Charlotte requested a "chocolate-vanilla cake that is brown and pink!"
... Mama complied:

 

With the assistance of a cute little helper: 

This year, Charlotte was for the first time really excited about her birthday - talking about it in advance, always asking when her birthday would be coming up when celebrating others'. She couldn't wait for birthday morning to come, so that she could head downstairs and sing, blow out candles and open presents.

 

Being a little brother is also great when big sister celebrates: you get to eat birthday muffins way before you have your own birthday!

Penny actually did turn four and celebrated with birthday muffins too,
of course ;-) 

 The friends at Kindergarten couldn't wait either to celebrate - and dig into that cake!

big boy

Noah is ten months already!

... and has become more boy than baby in the last month: Like Charlotte, he made some big leaps around the eight/nine months mark -- after he had figured out sitting and standing up by himself, he was fast onto crawling less than two weeks later. And now, there's no stopping him anymore. He was actually a little earlier and faster than big sister: after only a brief period of army crawling, Noah has discovered that all-fours is speedier. After all, he has to keep up with his busy bee role model ;-) Also, sitting is so yesterday. Noah loves to pull up and stand everywhere -- and again, proved to be a bit more daring: already letting go with his hands here and there to test how it feels to truly stand all by himself! 

He loves to explore (i.e., get into everything) and is fascinated by Charlotte and Penny. They are just too funny and cuddly.

Like big sister, he also cut his first teeth in month 9. He's already sporting three now.

And before we forget: he's become so interactive and a social butterfly in the past months! At 7 months he started pointing and babbling a lot, with "Da!" and "Mamamama" as his favorite words. At 8 months, he turned into a total flirt, waving hello and giving big loving open-mouth kisses to everyone in reach ;-)

Oh, sweet sweet Noey - you make us happy!

Look! A tail!!

song for Daddy

Charlotte sang a song for Daddy for Fathers' Day. She also sang renditions for Mama too.

(Feel free to ignore her caveman-style dining.)

D is for daddy!

 

Dear Daddy,

THANK YOU - for all you do and are. For taking care of us, showing us the world, making us giggle, taking us on long walks, and yes... also for telling us what to do. 

♬ ♬ ♬  

"Your are our sunshine, our only sunshine... you make us haaaaaaaaappy [picture Charlotte belching out a tune, very loudly] when skies are gray... you never know dear how much we love you, please don't take our sunshine away." 

♬ ♬ ♬

With Big hugs (that are just a little too tight ;-), 

happy crawls towards you, 

and a warm furry belly on your feet.

ladies man

I'll be blunt: Charlotte is getting hard to put down. We've tried everything. Putting her to sleep when it's dark. Putting her to sleep when it's light. Reading. Not reading. Tranquilizers. Running. Painting. Playgrounding. Ju-jitsu pressure points. Crying it out. Laughing it out. And many more.

The kid simply doesn't like to sleep. If there's anything even remotely interesting nearby, she wants in on the action. And if nothing is around, she'll just talk. And talk. And talk. Loud snoring noises can't even derail the runaway train.

Recently, I've been trying new techniques. Letting her fall asleep on the floor, beside me, helped one night. She was out only shortly after darkness encompassed the room. But, alas, like all things: it wasn't meant to last, and we're stuck looking for new tricks.

Of course, that falling asleep on the floor doesn't work for Charlotte matters not to Penny. She seizes the opportunity to cuddle "on her level." Last night, Penny pinned my legs down while Charlotte peppered me with kicks to the neck and head [not pictured]. For a while, Charlotte's feet were on my head and Penny's head was on my feet. Good times.

simply penny

 

Now this is spot on! And true to heart... Penny simply loves her babies. And Noah enjoys doggie kisses too ;-)