Milestones and Memories

The last post today is to share some of the milestones and memories that we've had with our kids over the past several weeks.  My return to work has definitely delayed my blog updates... but life keeps happening at record speed!  The top photo is Amita standing by her new owl growth chart.  She is getting so big, so fast that we wanted to start to capture that to look back on.

Here's Ansel riding in the baby carrier.  He needed to be able to hold his head up and now he and Daddy can be much more mobile (and maybe start doing the grocery shopping like he did with Amita!).

Here's Ansel fully stretched out.  He is growing a lot faster than Amita did at this age.  We are definitely not getting our money's worth on clothes this time around!!

Amita "flying" with Daddy.  She loves to wrestle and tumble on the floor!

Both the kids hanging out together.  Amita continues to be sweet on her little brother.  She is such a good big sister.

Amita showing off her pockets.  This is the only thing that can get her to put down some of the toys in her hands!

Remember how I said she likes pockets?  Well the overalls have 5, count them, 5 pockets!!  Suffice it to say that she adores them!!

Here's our laid back little man in his bouncer.  He is such a sweetie!

The boys snuggling together.

And Mr. Handsome posing for mama.

Dress Up

With the extra set of hands to help before I went back to work, I took advantage and played a little dress up with the kids.  We had a beach party and tried out some Badger bibs.  It was a lot of fun for everyone!

Amita was so riled up she was rolling all over the floor... which made her hair crazy with static!

Here's Ansel modeling a sailor suit that used to belong to my brother.  He sure makes it look handsome!

One of the hardest parts of playing dress up was getting Amita to hold still.  Part of the problem was that she discovered her sandals squeaked when she walked, so she wanted to keep making noise with them!

Amita kept adding layers as she opened up birthday gifts at her party.  By the end of the night, she had on her regular clothes, a skirt and two aprons!

Amita wearing a burp cloth as a hat.  That explains why I can never find one when I need it!

And speaking of hats, here she is trying on one of mine.  With her track suit, she really gives off a 90's rapper vibe!

Showing off a pig shower cap that she just loves!!

Trying to walk in mama's shoes.

Hauling her monkey baby in mama's baby carrier.  She was also doing her best to get undressed that day (note the missing shoes, socks, and unzipped vest!).

Ansel being handsome and oh-so-calm for dress up.  This was NEVER a game that I played with Amita when she was a baby.  But she sure seems to enjoy it now!!

A Budding Foodie

Amita loves to cook and will climb on a stool in the kitchen whenever she has a chance.  One of her favorite kitchen tasks is pulling the leaves off the cilantro stems.  She will work on an entire clump of cilantro pulling leaves... and sneaking a bite or two along the way... until it's all done!

Here she is trying a peanut butter cookie.  She helped me make them for her belated birthday party at the end of January.  Her favorite parts were pressing the cookies into the pan and then licking the bowl!

Amita finally figuring out that frosting is the best part of any cupcake!  I'm not as excited about this discovery since I'm the one that used to get all the frosting that she didn't like!!

Gaa and Gaa

Recently, Amita got to play with her grandparents who came down to help out before I went back to work.  It was a fun, exhausting time for everyone.  I know all 3 of them slept very well each night!!

Amita's vocabulary is expanding like wildfire, but some things are easier to say for her than others.  Example: she can say "Baby Sunshine" clear as day, but grandpa and grandma have been shortened to Gaa.  Makes it hard to know who she's talking to... but when she calls it out, she always gets at least one to answer, so I guess it works for her!

Here's Grandma reading a book (a moldy oldy story that I loved as a kid!!) to both kids.

Hanging out with the kiddos after a morning of dress up.

Cats Love Surprises

Amita and the cats are coming to a new understanding now that she is fully mobile.  Before, they just had to sit back far enough on the couch and she couldn't reach them.  Now, there are very few places she can't get to and she somehow always notices where they are... even when they think they are hiding.

So imagine Amita's pure joy when Azzy thought he was being sneaky and burrowed into a baby blanket while we were eating dinner.  She went into the living room to play and discovered a giant lump in the blanket.  She was able to play her new favorite game (night-night... wakey-wake!) with Azzy.  Editor's note: This basically just involves her yelling those two phrases when anyone seems like their eyes might be closed for even half a second.  And to Azzy's credit, he tolerated it for as long as she wanted to play.  It must have been REALLY cozy in there for that to happen!

Amita was beyond excited for her captive playmate!

Checking the other side.  Yup... he's still in there!

Playing another game with Baxter (aka Buckers).  She recently learned how to tuck things in and she likes to practice every chance she gets.  Again, he was more than tolerant as she helped him get ready for night-night.