happy hour

Leaving the office is not so much followed by cocktails anymore... but lots of hugs and kisses!

with love

Last year around Valentine's Day, Charlotte started speaking more and more in longer sentences - declaring for the first time that she loved Mama, Daddy and Penny. 

This year, Charlotte "wrote" her first love letters in kindergarten for all her classmates. We thought it was an interesting collection of endearing and funny sentiments she expressed about her friends. 

Of course, Daddy made sure Charlotte wrote a card to herself as well! ;-)

sweeeeet!

Charlotte had a sweet Valentine's too - making and drinking hot chocolate on a snow day is the best! (And blowing into the cocoa powder is especially fun ;-)

sweet valentine's

Noah turned 6 months on Valentine's Day! 

Charlotte would have surely loved to bake him a cake already... but at least he could celebrate with a first taste of real food. According to family and baby tradition, we served orange veggies. Charlotte Karotte ate carrot back in the day. 

Our sweet Noey got sweet potato ;-)

He had already longingly watched us and big sister eat for a while now, and loved test sitting in his new chair. 

 

So when we finally served up his first culinary delights, he eagerly ate up more than a first taste... grabbing and shoving the spoon into his mouth himself each time, as if Mama couldn't bring on the good stuff faster!

Our little brother has a BIG appetite. Enjoy, Noah!

simply penny

party animals

Charlotte (and Noah) loved the holiday season - from fun costumes to sparkly lights, from getting gifts to baking cookies.

But the most fun was staying up late!

We went to a friend's wedding before Christmas and first thought about getting a babysitter for the hotel so that Mama & Daddy could enjoy a few hours at the dinner and reception. But then we thought better: Convincing Charlotte to fall and stay asleep in an unknown hotel room while we were away was probably a non-starter, and Noah still ate too often. So we took them along after the church ceremony... expecting a short and stressful appearance... but we ALL had a blast!

Noah enjoyed all the cuddles during cocktail hour and deeply slept through all the hustle and bustle of dinner & dance.

And Charlotte? Well Charlotte had the best time staying up way past her bedtime for the very first time: First, she helped decorate. Then she got drunk on refreshing Pittsburgh water and ate her weight at the bread buffet. And finally, she cut up a rug on the dance floor. In the end, we all fell happily asleep in our room.

Now Charlotte wants more of Mama & Daddy's friends to get married ;-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

simply charlotte

We're still here!

We just had "a little" strep throat, bronchitis and ear infection (alright, and blogging fatigue too) in the last weeks... but fun too.

So for now just a quick hello again... especially since a picture often speaks more than a 1000 words:

because this is SO Charlotte ;-)

a new year already?!

 

Forget about years... another month already?!!
(After all, that's the unit of measurement -- or shall we say speed of light?! -- that babies grow in.)

Today, Noah turned 5 months!

Still baffled by Charlotte being 2 1/2 years old, we have no idea how the last months have flown by and Noah is now almost half a year old.

And a lot has happened in the past five months: From the first sleepy newborn days, and very hungry days AND nights... to a calmer schedule. From simply eating and sleeping to actively playing, enjoying tummy time and sitting on big sister's lap. From first sweet smiles at 5 weeks old to a loud and heartwarming giggling at around 11/12 weeks, which instantly makes you laugh too. From silent and attentive looks to the first chatty cooing at 7/8 weeks of age. From the discovery of his hands and feet (and that both fit almost fully into his mouth ;-) around 9/10 weeks to firmly holding onto things at 13/14 weeks, grabbing for everything in reach himself from week 16 and wanting to be pulled up now. From accidentally rolling over from his tummy back onto his back in week 15 to working hard week after week to almost roll all by himself from his back onto his tummy today.

There's so much ahead of you in the new year, Noah... and we are all excited to share and discover this with you!!

Big hugs to our sweet sweet Noey.

happy new year!

 

Here's to a fun-filled 2014!

a very merry christmas

We had a typical Christmas celebration with little kids: Charlotte woke up cranky from her nap on Christmas eve, Noah threw up the night before Christmas morning... but then there were also lots of smiles, giggles, glowing eyes and mouths wide open under the tree, excitement, ripping open of packages, joy, wonder, and sweet sibling love.

Ahhhh, some days and nights can seem long & endless but the years fly by and the moments are fleeting -- it was a very merry first (and third!) Christmas to be treasured.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

before & after

Charlotte was very excited to go & pick out the Christmas tree this year. In fact, she picked two!