Mama's Little Helper

I left the kids alone in the living room for a few minutes this morning and when I went back in to check on them, they were sitting together holding hands!  I know... they couldn't be more adorable!  Amita has really taken to being mama's little helper.  She likes to help take care of the baby any way she can, including wiping up his spit up (or pointing it out to us), patting his back to help him burp, and playing with him (and more accurately, his toys!).  And since Aaron came down with the flu last week, I'll take all the help I can get!

It seems like we're out of the woods on the illness front for now, so here's a few shots of my little helper.

The patient wearing a mask to keep the spread of germs to a minimum.

Amita holding hands with Ansel.  They did this for around 20 mins this morning!

Helping to bounce the baby in his chair.

Sweeping the floor with her new bear broom.  She loves the sweeping sounds it makes!

Handsome break!

Here's Amita wearing my baby sling.  It looks like it would be a lot more fun without a 12+ pound baby inside of it.  The Elmo purse really jazzes it up too!

Healthy & Happy

We took both kids to the doctor on Friday.  It was Amita's two-year checkup and Ansel's two-month checkup.  The verdict was simple: we're blessed to have two healthy and happy kids!  Both are growing as they should be and are meeting all the milestones for their ages.  What a joy!  It's been awesome to see them both doing so well and we couldn't ask for more.

Here's Ansel and Daddy stretching their long limbs!

Amita loves to color... especially on her new magnetic drawing board!

Hmmm... where have I seen this look before???  Oh yeah... a little less than two years ago... let's rewind the blog tape.

Fortunately for us, the frowns are few and far between this time around.  I've said it before, but I'll say it again: how can you argue with those dimples?!?!?!

Editor's note: our trip to the doctor's was not without its share of excitement.  Before we got both kids weighed, 3 of the 4 of us ended up with urine on our clothes!  Amita got to leave minus her pants, I had to remove a shirt, and Ansel only managed to get me, the floor and his not-nearly-absorbent-enough pad.  Of course, he was also the only one that had spare clothes in the diaper bag... go figure!

Terrific Two's

It's official.  We have a two-year-old.  We're done talking about her age in months.  Now we can just use years.  Hard to believe how quickly those two years have passed!  We had a fun-filled day with her that included going to the library, opening gifts, and eating cake.  Not too shabby!  And of course, her cute birthday outfit somehow managed to get wet before lunchtime, so we had to swap out clothes... so it was a lot like any other day here!

Here's a close up of our big girl!

Having Daddy and a giant balloon greet her after her nap helped improve her mood substantially!

Posing for Mama as she "talks" on her "phone".

I'm not sure who was more excited about the balloon... Amita or Azrael!  It was the closest he's ever followed a toddler before!

Ansel relaxed and took all the excitement in stride.  He wore a special dinosaur onesie since it's one of Amita's new favorite things!

Amita remembered how much fun gift opening was from Christmas and she tore right into them!

And did I mention she REALLY liked the balloon?!?!?

Getting ready to blow out the candle on her birthday cake.

Celebrating by eating the sprinkles.  She wasn't nearly as interested in the frosting or the cake.  I know... hard to believe she's mine!

Memory

We have been having lots of fun as a family and Amita has been able to play lots with all of her Christmas gifts.  She loves trying to "share" things with Ansel and we do our best to temper her enthusiasm when needed!  Ansel is doing great and is healthy... he just keeps growing and growing!  Amita was always very bird-like (still is!) and was undersized for her age.  That is definitely not the case for our little man!  I keep boxing up too small items every week as he outgrows them.  Good thing most of his stuff is hand-me-downs/used or I would feel really bad about it!

Amita's favorite new game is Memory.  She loves naming all the pictures on the cards.  But her favorite part of Memory is taking off her shoes and socks and sticking the cards to her bare feet.  On our wood floors, they make a delightful clomp-clomp sound as she walks around!

Here's both kids hanging out.  Ansel is very calm and can just chill on his back (we never saw Amita do this!).  Because he's so laid back, Amita is able to "play" with him a lot... and he seems to love her company.  He usually starts smiling when she gets in his face!

Looking fierce with Daddy!

Scattering the Memory cards (her second favorite way to use them!) as she models her silly sunglasses.

Ansel trying out the glasses... he makes them look so handsome!

Self-portrait of mama and Amita.  She loves the camera and always wants to see what we're taking pictures of... which makes it a lot harder to get good photos of her since she's always running over to see before I click the button!!

Ansel snuggling with mama.  This is one of his favorite things to do... and I can honestly say that I don't mind at all!

The kids and daddy having fun on a Saturday morning.