Lillian is 10 months & Pre-Christmas update

I thought I would try to take advantage of a few quiet minutes this afternoon to catch up with the blog.  Audrey has gone with Michael to pick up Uncle Dave - we are very excited to have him come spend a week with us to celebrate the holiday.  And Lillian is finally taking a nap after wearing me and herself out, the poor thing is teething and has a cold.

We've had a bit of a rough week with us all getting sick in one way or another.  Most of us caught the stomach bug that Audrey was kind enough to bring home from preschool, and then Audrey and Lillian have had colds.  Thankfully Lillian is the only one of us teething!

Since I last posted, Lillian has been progressing so much.  She got two teeth in one week several weeks ago, and now has her first top tooth coming in.  She also rapidly went from trying to pull up and only crawling backwards, to pulling up and cruising around, and finally crawling as well.  In the last few days she's even been practicing letting go and standing on her own.  She's clearly pretty eager to be able to chase Audrey around.

Her crankiness today is really unusual for Lillian, it's just a lot for a baby to handle.  She generally has a very relaxed personality and likes to take everything in.  But she will let you know if she doesn't want something - she has already learned to throw things.

This week Lillian had a check-up and was lighter than I expected given her super chubby face.  She was 19 pounds 12 ounces and 28 inches tall.  Her stats are at 68th percentile for head size (all brains!) 62nd percentile for weight - and just 38th percentile for height!

Lillian has also started eating all sorts of things now.  I'm still quite nervous about her choking, but she can manage cheerios and small pieces of soft foods.  She is following in our family tradition of having an intense love of bread.

Audrey is also doing well now that she survived her week of being sick.  It's quite unusual for Audrey to be sick - when I think back though, in the last two years I don't remember her being really sick at all.  She missed school last week, and won't have school this week, but I think she is glad to have a little break.  She plays at home very nicely and continues to develop a strong imagination.  She is very creative and loves to do art and sing songs.  She is very excited about Christmas.

It's funny because we haven't really been encouraging Audrey to believe in Santa, but she has somehow learned quite a bit about him.  And makes up her own rules as well.  The other day when I told her that I was wrapping her presents she became upset and insisted that Santa had to bring the presents and that "you can't play with your presents until Santa says ho-ho-ho."  Thankfully she seems to have gotten over her dismay and is still just as excited.  Audrey loves Christmas lights! She is excited to see them when we are in the car and we have had fun walking in the neighborhood looking at all the lights.

We are still working with Audrey on her letters, and she is doing extremely well.  She knows almost all of her letters and a good portion of the letter sounds.  She can also write well and likes to practice her letters - although she has recently preferred to write "important stuff" like me, and just draws squiggly lines.

Last week Baba came to visit, we were so happy to see her.  We had a great time even though it was a short visit.  We went to the Philadelphia ballet Nutrcracker and it was beautiful.  We really enjoyed it, but Audrey - who almost never naps - fell asleep!  She was clearly not feeling her best, but did see most of it and really liked it.  We could see the orchestra pit from our seats and Audrey asked what the lady (the conductor) was doing with those sticks...and then Audrey proceeded to join in the conducting of the next song.  We also met up with friends at the Longwood Gardens at an old DuPont estate for a gorgeous Christmas display.   

Lillian enjoying some bread:

 

 Audrey & Daddy at the Nutcracker:

Audrey enjoying one of the children's garden at Longwood Gardens:

My girls:



 

Audrey & Michael with the official Philly Christmas tree:

Thanksgiving & Chess:

 

 

And some videos to enjoy:

 

 

 

 

I am looking forward to celebrating Christmas with our family - Lillian's first Christmas!  I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and I will try my best to update soon! 

Fall Weekend & Nine Months for Lillian!

We have had a very nice weekend.  I appreciated the weekends while I was home with the girls, to have a little break.  Now I am glad of the time to be with the girls.

Lillian is now 9-months-old!  She is growing well and still trying hard to crawl.  She is also practically obsessed with pulling and is always trying to stand up.  Still no teeth though, although she's been suffering more with her teething this weekend.  She has to get teeth one of these days!

Audrey is such a little character.  She is always singing and dancing and racing around.  She continues to enjoy pretend play and has a blast with her Nana who plays along in any role Audrey commands.

This afternoon we went over to Valley Forge which was especially beautiful on this sunny autumn day.  We had a bit of a photo shoot and I got to play with my cameras, but no matter how many pictures I took, we couldn't seem to get the two of them to look at the camera at the same time!

  

October Fun

October was our last big hurrah before I went back to work.  I've been back at work for two weeks now - slightly interrupted by my namesake hurricane.

I took the girls out to California so that we could visit and help out while Adele & Jonny's nanny was out of town.  We had a great visit and really enjoyed the weather.  Audrey and Adele played nonstop and Lillian and Jonny were pretty interested in each other also.

We got to visit a really nice new park in L.A. with a water park, it was a big hit.  It's called Grand Park and is right downtown.

We also got to celebrate Jonny's first birthday!  He was a fan of the cake.

And while we were sad to be away for Michael's birthday, Audrey and Adele did make him a nice birthday poster.

And we went to Disneyland.  Although Audrey went just before she turned two, that was right before her long-term memory really kicked in, so it was all new for her.  It was hilarious to see her reaction, as she can be quite dramatic.  There was a lot of squealing and shouting, "I'm so excited!!"

Back in Philly, we went to the Boo at the Zoo event with one of Michael's co-workers and his family, including Audrey's new friend Reagan.

And then the real deal :)  Halloween!  Audrey decided to wear her spider costume again which was a surprise for us.  Luckily we could just squeeze her winter coat under it as it has really cooled off!

Our worn out little puppy.

The girls seem to be adjusting to my being back at work.  They love having their Nana here to take care of them.  Unfortunately Lillian doesn't want to have anything to do with bottles, but we keep trying and hopefully it will get easier.

Lillian continues to add new sounds to her repertoire.  While we were in L.A. she started saying ba-ba, and ma - both of which were especially exciting.  She is also trying to start pulling up, although she still has no concept of falling.  She doesn't really try to hold on or avoid falling at all.  She loves to stand though.  And this week she started clapping!  She is still trying to crawl and gets her entire body off the floor - like she's doing pilates, but still only goes backwards!  It's quite funny.

Audrey is also growing like crazy and doing really well.  She is so smart and I can't wait for her to start reading.  She is doing a great job writing letters and is learning more letters all the time.

I hope everyone had a good weekend & isn't too sad about the end of daylight savings - enjoy the extra hour!