Happy 3rd Birthday, Daniel!!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Daniel!

We cannot believe he is THREE years old! We're so proud of our little guy!

Daniel was super excited that it was his birthday today. The first thing he said when he woke up this morning and we sang "Happy Birthday" to him was that he can have a pinata! Where did he get that idea, you ask? Curious George. There was a birthday party episode and they had a pinata. Ever since then, Daniel has associated birthdays with pinatas! (Ben and I both kinda sorta thought about a pinata, but didn't get one...Upon hearing this story, Grandma Cheryl is surprising Daniel with a pinata for his party Sunday, though! Thank you, Grandma! Can't wait!) Anyway, we spent the early part of the day at the zoo and had a lot of fun. After nap time, we had dinner, cake and presents of course! It was a fun celebration- Daniel is just so cute and so much fun. I'll post more pictures later, but I wanted to say Happy Birthday to Daniel right away!

Sitting Any Day Now?...That Day Was TODAY!!

My post from yesterday...that any day now Annabel would be sitting? Nevermind!! She was sitting all on her own SO WELL today! We had the most fun! Daniel was so cute with her, too. He gave her toys to play with, he comforted her with hugs and kisses and sweet pats on the head when she tumbled a couple times, and later he reminded her "Don't tumble, Annabel!" I loved watching his interaction with her as she accomplished this newest milestone. It was just so sweet! Check out these cuuute pictures!

Oh...and if you're interested in a blast from the past, you can check out Daniel's first sitting pictures, too! Such fun!

Reaching for the toy

What a face!

Hmmm....which toy should I play with?

I love how Annabel is grabbing her toes!

So happy and proud of herself!

Melt. My. Heart.
My two kids sitting next to each other. Oh how I waited for this moment!
Could this be any sweeter?!
I look forward to many more sweet moments like this.

Daniel is showing Annabel the birthday card from Grandma Cheryl that he got in the mail today. He LOVES the card (thank you, Grandma!) and was more than happy to sit next to Annabel and share it with her.

We even had Annabel sitting up in the bath tub tonight. She's so serious about it, too, but she had a ball splashing! Things sure look different when you're sitting up more. And of course Daniel was right there helping us out!

Splish splash! Water on her face from the splashes didn't bother Annabel one bit!

Looking around.

I love these cozy towel pictures! At first, Annabel just played with the towel, then she realized there was a baby sitting next to her! She just kept looking and looking at that baby.

Annabel checks out her feet.

Oooh...yummy towel!

Such a cute smile!

Hey, there's a baby sitting next to me!

And now for some videos! You can see how Annabel is doing so well, a little wobbly, but she's got the idea and she's working hard at it! She's even playing with toys and looking around, too. And she didn't fall once while I took several minutes of videos!

Fun sitting in the bath tub! Annabel was just splashing and splashing over and over again!

Random Fun & Class Update

These are just some very random pictures from the fun we're having lately!

Apparently tools + playdoh = hours of fun!
Daniel has been having the most fun making imprints in the playdoh with his tools- it doesn't seem to get old!

(Yes, Daniel is wearing a Halloween shirt- I made the mistake of putting it in his drawers already and of course he found it and wanted to wear it!)

Another one of Daniel's photographic masterpieces!

Annabel has been sucking the life out of this flower lately! Apparently it's quite yummy!

Daniel and Daddy worked very hard to make this very tall marble tower. Also, Daniel LOVES using the two-step stepstool and has learned that it really helps him reach new shelves around the house! Uh-oh!

See how tall that tower is!

I went to a consignment sale recently and one of the major things I was looking for was a super cheap exersaucer. I found one! I'd decided it would be really handy to have one in the family room and one in the basement since we're in those rooms a lot. Annabel already loves the one, it allows us to play a little in the basement while she's entertained, and upstairs it would allow us to maybe cook or eat, as well as play with Daniel. I knew it would make things a little easier since she likes to be upright and see the action. We are of course very aware of giving her time outside of it, too (it's not good for her to be in it too much, we know that; and besides she does get bored after a while even if she does love it)- especially since now she's sitting SO WELL on her own and wants to practice that.

Here's Annabel loving the new exersaucer!

We were having quite some adventures with Annabel's diapers this past weekend. Literally every time we went out over the course of about 4 days, we would arrive at our destination with Annabel in a super messy diaper- the kind that means a change of clothes! Prior to this Annabel was pretty much on a one messy diaper a week schedule (which had me worried the first time she did this- now it's just her normal!)...and now this? This? Seriously?! Drastic diapers means taking drastic measures...it's time to use the trunk! It was just easier...

Clearly Annabel didn't mind a fresh diaper change in the trunk of the car!

And while we're on random notes, Daniel did great at his class again yesterday! He walked right it just like last week and spent the time working hard on his project again. I talked to the teacher after class about how I signed Daniel up for Puddle Jumpers 2 (he's in 1 now) and she made a good point- she said maybe the 45 minute length of Puddle Jumpers 2 will be good for him and just long enough to maybe get him into playing. She thinks he will eventually get bored of sitting at the table doing the project the whole time, especially if it's a longer time. It was an interesting point. We shall see. We have two more weeks of this session and then we start the next, longer session on Fridays in mid-October. In any case, I'm glad he's doing fine, I'm glad he works hard at the project, and that he's excited about doing the project. That's my big boy! I'm so proud of him.

SO Cute!

I LOVE overalls on babies! Why are they so darn cute? I don't know why, but check out how cute Annabel is in her overalls! Love it!

Any Day Now!

Any day now and Annabel will be sitting up on her own! I'm having mixed feelings- I'll be glad when she can sit up and see- she'll be so much happier I think, I'll be glad to be able to just sit her down and go get a small something done in the same room, but at the same time I'm sad that with each day and with milestone she's less of a baby and she's just growing up more!

We've really been working on sitting up a lot lately. Annabel loves to sit between my legs and play with toys in front of her. She's getting stronger and stronger every day. It's been a fun week of practicing!

Who's that behind me?!

This is how we practice...right between my legs. She loves it!

These pictures were taken today. Annabel was doing very well sitting up on her own for a few seconds, with the support of large toys in front of her or next to her. Like I said, any day now!

Annabel loves this big noisy shape sorter toy!

She also loves this "cookie jar" shape sorter toy, too! We use this toy for support most of the time- it plays music and is a little easier to grab, too.

Such a happy girl! So proud of herself!

Yes, even this huge toy goes in the mouth!

Children's Museum with Grandpa Gary

Yesterday we went to the Children's Discovery Museum again, and we took Grandpa Gary. Daniel earned free tickets for this museum from the summer reading program at our library- that was a great reward! Daniel remembered going with Grandma Cheryl and Uncle Brian this summer. He wanted to play with the water again this time, and we made sure to do that a little earlier during our visit since we pretty much did that area last before. I was impressed that he remembered going to this "play museum."

We had a great time at the museum again! We started out upstairs, since we didn't even go up there last time. There's a new train exhibit (which was just okay in my opinion) and then lots of counting and math activities up there. Then we headed downstairs where the water and air/wind activities were the biggest hits with Daniel. We played with the air tubes for the longest time! Of course the fact that there were balls to play with in those exhibits helped! We also tried out the tool workshop (it was too busy last time), which Daniel is a bit young for, but it was cute to see him with goggles on and trying to use a real hammer- he does love tools, so he was keen to try it, but like I said, he's a little young and not quite strong enough. Overall, we were at the museum for over two hours and we had a blast!

Annabel was great the whole time- like I said, she's been doing awesome in the K'tan lately, especially when I'm standing still, which she used to fuss for. I remember very clearly taking Annabel this summer, I'll never forget it- Annabel was just two months old and very overwhelmed; her eyes were as big and wide as I've ever seen them. You could tell she's was just having fun looking around this time- it's fun to see those little changes as she gets older!

Library Fun Again!

We've been checking out the library's different programs lately. We've been to a play time (that was LOTS of fun and we'll go again!), a story/art time (that was just okay), and then last week we went to a play time specifically for building blocks. That was pretty fun, but as I suspected, just the same as we have at home pretty much. Still, Daniel enjoyed playing with their different blocks. We also had fun checking out some new books and even got to play on their computers, which Daniel really enjoyed. We'll have to make time for the computers again soon!

Annabel was such a good girl for our whole library visit, too. Lately she's been even calmer in the K'tan carrier, which she's always done well with anyway. Now I'm actually allowed to stand still a little more. She used to really fuss if I stopped moving even for a second- I had to be constantly moving around, which isn't always possible. Our last couple times using the K'tan were for pretty stationary activities and she did well both times. I was impressed...and very glad that we're progressing nicely in using the K'tan. She's still really happy in it and I'll use it as long as I can!

Nature Class with Grandma Cheryl

Grandma Cheryl came with us to Nature Class last week. We had a blast! It was beautiful weather. Daniel got to pet a caterpillar (he was so cute checking it out and didn't even flinch when it was his turn to pet it!), look up at the tree branches, collect leaves, make leaf rubbings, and we even had time to play in the nature play yard there which of course Daniel LOVED! It was a fun class and Daniel was thrilled to bring Grandma with us! Thanks for joining us, Grandma Cheryl!