Thanksgiving

We had a nice Thanksgiving spent with family! We went to my parents house. My brother and family were also there. Of course, the girls had a great time playing together...even Amber tried to get involved!

As we were leaving Aunt Tiffanie asked Leah what she was thankful for...her response "swimming." Well, I am thankful for my wonderful family!

Leah's school picture, Kindergarten

Leah looses first tooth

For weeks now, Leah has been wiggling her loose tooth. She was so excited to have her first loose tooth, but has been anxious to know when it would finally come out. Well, ironically, this morning, we had to play "tooth fairy" where one of use would be sleeping with a ring under the pillow and the other would be the tooth fairy. Later in the morning, I was talking to Aunt Vicky on the phone, when Leah states "Mommy, it's getting looser." So, I said "should we have Daddy pull it out." To which she sort of laughed giving me the look, and wondering if I was kidding. She replied "No" just to be sure. Then a few minutes later I heard a scream/squeal and Leah came running to me with tooth in hand and fear on her face. I got off of the phone, gave her a cold water paper towel. As soon as the bleeding stopped, she was as happy as could be to show off her new smile. She is also excited to be able to write on the paper at school which, apparently, is for those who have lost a tooth.

So, now it is official- I have one baby loosing her teeth while one baby is getting her teeth!!

Amber is 9 months!

Our baby is growing up! She is such a delightful baby. Almost always happy. Loves to be entertained by big sister. As we found out last week- DOES NOT like to be left out of play when it involves Daddy and big sister (she screamed until she was included). Since Leah has already claimed the Drama Queen title, I have decided that Amber gets the Drama Princess title! I am so lucky to have two beautiful, fun, and spirited girls. Here is what Amber has been up to in the last month....

• Sleeps on tummy, back and side
• Typically 2 naps a day, sometimes 1
• Sleeps 11 to 12 hours at night
• Outgrew Cranio Cap – stopped wearing it 10/21/ 10, her head looks great! So glad we did this.
• Teeth: 10/21, 10/28, 10/30, 11/5
• Rolling with ease
• Moves to sitting from lying down
• Crawling
• Pulls to tall kneel
• Pulls to stand at a low object
• Climb up the stairs (about 2-3 steps)
• Zoo Boo – 10/24/10
• First Halloween
• Plays peek-a-boo A LOT
• Claps for herself when she does something exciting/new!
• Some new foods – yogurt, banana crackers, graham crackers, cheerios. Oh, and let's not forget the small piece of garlic cheese toast she gobbled up the other night!
• Dances
• Gives open mouth kisses
• Loves to take baths
• Holds bottle
  

Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween "season."

We went to Zoo Boo at Como Zoo on 10/24. We went with Leah's buddy, Michael and his parents (our friends), Sara and Mike. The kids had a great time. Leah had no difficulty with the people in costume. She even gave out hi-fives to a few of them. She did not once try to get away or start to cry because of a costume. Progress made!

Leah and Amber both had Halloween parties. Leah at school and Amber at daycare. Amber brought home cookies- and, yes, I did let her have one. She seemed to enjoy it! Leah had a great time at her party. She brought home a bag of loot as well as a few Halloween projects. They had a parade through the school and sang songs. Sounded like fun.

Saturday, 10/30, we went to my parent's house for a Halloween "party." It was my brother's family and ours. My mom wanted to have the girls over to trick-or-treat in their costumes. It was a fun time. Leah was a lucky girl and got to spend the night at Nonna and Grandpa's house.

I picked Leah up on Sunday and we went to the pumpkin patch to get our pumpkins (just a little last minute). We carved them Sunday afternoon. Leah wanted a kitty. We had a pattern, so I did my best to help her. She cleaned the pumpkin out herself. I just needed to help with the finishing touches. She also helped me carve the kitty in the less delicate areas. She was much more into carving this year than she has been in past years. Joe, of course, did much better and more elaborate pumpkin- he is far more talented than I am!

Leah and I headed out trick-or-treating with Sara and Michael. Joe and Amber stayed back to pass out candy. Leah and Michael were out for about 1.5 hours trick-or-treating from door to door through the neighborhood, and they walked the entire way. I was shocked at the number of people who were driving their kids. It was really a nice evening (for MN anyway). By the end of trick-or-treating both little ones were tired and ready to be done. This was okay because I know Leah can't eat that much candy, and I don't really want to be helping her!

Leah: Pretty as a princess
Amber: Cute as can BEE

Amber is 8 months

A little late with this post, but better late than never. As of Tuesday, Amber was 8 months old!! I know I say this every month, but I just can't believe how big she is getting. This last month was a big one for her. She is doing more and trying more things. She is such a happy baby. She loves to smile, laugh and babble. She loves bath time, being outside, and putting anything she can get her hands on into her mouth. She loves spending time with Leah. She is a bit of a mommy's girl - but that is only fair since Leah was a daddy's girl!

Here is what she has been up to this last month...

*20lbs, wearing 12month clothing
*outgrew her infant seat and now is in a rear facing car seat
*Holds her bottle independently (when she wants to)
*Starting to eat finger foods (puffs, crackers)
*2nd tooth (9/23)
*Taking a bath in the regular tub
*Scoots on her bottom (moves from a sitting to a half crawl position and then moves one leg forward then sits down and starts the process again)
*Recognizes her name
*Consistently rolling both directions
*Eating 3 meals a day, and about 5 bottles
*Tries hard to move from sit to stand, but not quite there yet
*Loves to be standing
*Played in leaves for the first time- was a little unsure at first, then tried to eat the leaves! Of course...everything goes into her mouth
*Goes to bed awake, typically asleep within 15 minutes!! Sleeps typically 10-11 hours at night, but the last few nights has decided to get up for a refuel around 3am (growth spurt?)
*Has started to take more predictable naps during the day
*First sinus infection - diagnosis 10/12, amoxicillin for 2 weeks.
*Started clapping
*Babbles mamama, dadada, and even may be saying them in an appropriate manner - hard to tell just yet!

Congrats MOM

My mom received an award last night - MNA Health and Safety 2010 award. Congrats. The banquet was last night in Duluth, myself, my dad, Aunt Vicky, Uncle Jim, Aunt Linda, and Uncle Steve were all in attendance. She did a great job accepting the award which sounds like it was well deserved. Congrats and way to go MOM! We love you.

The girls are doing great. Leah is still adjusting to kindergarten. Doing well in school. Seems to be learning a lot. Still working on figuring out the balance at home as she is very tired which leads to break downs at home. This to shall pass! She really is a delightful and bright child, which is what I constantly have to remind myself which she is in a whiny moment!!

Amber is a blast. She is so darn adorable with her cute little chubby cheeks. She is such a happy baby. I really love this age where you can tell that they are taking so much in. She is recovering from a sinus infection. She really has not been too crabby due to the infection, as a matter of fact, the only reason I brought her in was that I thought it was too long for her to be coughing and snotty! Can you believe she will be 8 months tomorrow? I will post an update soon. For now, I have to get ready to go to work (I took a half day off as my dad and I came back from Duluth this morning).