Audrey & Lillian hanging out

Just a little video of Audrey & Lillian. I still have a couple to upload from Audrey's birthday.

Audrey's Birthday Photos & other fun!

Lillian watches Audrey very intently!

Licking the icing off of her big 3 :)

After the children's symphony performance.

Can you tell she was excited?
First face-painting!


Birthday bed-head: Audrey decided to wash her hair the night before & used about half a bottle of shampoo...and then when Avo finished giving her her bath, he forgot to rinse it out!

Audrey with her new fish, who finally has a name - Pegasus.

Audrey playing in her room - thankfully there are days more often now when she will actually let me brush her hair!

And Lillian on her one-month birthday!

So busy!

Hello everyone! I keep putting off posting a new entry until I have some photos ready, but that just hasn't been happening, so, I thought I would take a moment to give a quick update. I have loads of photos & will try to post them soon. I did a photo shoot of Audrey & Lillian on Lillian's one-month 'birthday' and of course we took lots of photos on Audrey's birthday.

I can't believe Audrey is three! She is growing & changing do much. Some times I look at her and see that she is still just a tiny girl, but other moments she seems so big and grown up! She is really such a special person with a hilarious & sweet personality. She is still acting out a little and dealing with all the change, but I think she is doing really well.

I tried to make a list of some of the funny things she's said lately, and came up with these:

"I hate pillows. I HATE pillows." She said this over and over one day shortly before Lillian was born & I was trying to get her to take a nap. She fell asleep very shortly after that.

Audrey is also passionate in other ways. When she is having a bit of a tantrum, she doesn't just say no, she likes to shout, "Never!"

When we first arrived in Philadelphia, Audrey seemed to think that the city was covered in railroads. The potholes are terrible around here, and for the first few days she kept shouting out "railroad tracks" when we hit a bump.

She also gets very excited about all of our outings. When Michael put together the new stroller, she announced that it was "extra perfect."

I can see that I need to write down more of the funny ones, she really does make me laugh every day with the things she comes up with. She is so smart and creative.

I have been getting Audrey out somewhere special almost every day. I have already lost count of how many times we have been to the Please Touch Museum. And this weekend we went to the zoo - the first zoo in the U.S. And then today she took her first tumbling class at a nearby play space & cafe - she was really excited and went all in her own to the class!

Her birthday was great too. Her Avo (michael's dad) and Uncle Bryan came to visit. We went to a neat children's concert put on by a locak symphony and Audrey got a pet fish for her room that she named Pegasus.

Lillian is still an easy baby, although she does make a lot of dirty laundry :) she loves to sleep and eat and eat and eat! Her awake-alert periods are lasting longer and she is noticing more and more. She is really interested in watching Audrey!

I'm looking forward to Lillian's next doctor's visit, I have a feeling she is going to be a lot bigger.

I have to go- we are going to pick up Uncle Dave from the bus station. Audrey is excited to see him. I will try to post photos tomorrow!

Family Fun

Now that we are here in Philly, there is so much to explore and do! We are still getting settled in our apartment- it's hard to downsize! Audrey is really happy with her room & play room though.

Last weekend we went to a really awesome place called the Please Touch Museum. It's a museum for kids in the beautiful historic site of the world fair in 1876. It's a very cool place and Audrey had the time of her life. So much so that when we left she was so worn out she had quite a meltdown. We got a membership and already went back yesterday! Audrey had a blast again and met a little friend, which was very exciting. Lillian even seemed interested in looking around when she was awake. And this time Audrey left without having a fit, which was a relief, but made up for it by acting like a maniac yesterday evening, misbehaving and throwing her dinner plate! She went to bed early and slept for almost 12 hours, she was definitely overtired because neither the behavior nor the length of sleep was what we were used to.

It has been nice just to have some time to spend together as a family. Audrey enjoys interacting with Lillian and is always quick to let me know if Lillian needs something. Audrey is concerned about Lillian and frequently asks where she is if she can't see her. On Monday Audrey helped me give Lillian her bath, which was very sweet. She still needs to learn to be calmer around Lillian though- the other she was playing with her jump rope inside and the rope caught Lillian on the head! Thankfully Lillian was fine and I think Audrey was more upset about it than Lillian.

This week we made our first trip to our local library, the Free Library of Philadelphia. Audrey and I loved it. The selection of books was excellent, and they had so many other neat resources for kids too - educational CDs and DVDs. It's going to be another regular stop for us. We went to Story Time today and it was a big hit with Audrey!

We have lots of fun, but I also feel like we have a neverending parade of dirty laundry from Lillian spitting up, Audrey trying to make it through the night without a pull-up, and even Audrey vomiting all over herself and her carseat. It's part of the package though :)

I know there aren't that many photos of Lillian here, but when we are out and about, I am carrying her and watching Audrey. But I'm trying to make an effort to take some more of Lillian. I can't believe she will be a month old tomorrow! She is really changing so quickly. She is much more alert during her awake periods and really watches us and looks around.


Audrey at the Please Touch Museum:
Lillian at the Please Touch Museum - she actually seemed to enjoy looking at some of the exhibits:

Audrey at the mini supermarket at the Please Touch Museum - she LOVED it.





Dance party at the P.T.M.

Dinner time, Audrey wanted a picnic in the kitchen:

Back at the Smith Playhouse in the block room:


At the P.T.M.


As you can see, Audrey was pretty proud to hold Lillian...she was also pretty excited about the stroller that came with Lillian's car seat.

Audrey enjoying her play room. She likes to line things up.

Audrey taking a picture of me :)

Lillian's first bath!

Home in Philly!

Sorry for the absence! We made the big trip to Philadelphia last Friday, but didn't have internet when we got here...now that we are all hooked up, we are ready to check in again!

Our trip up went relatively well, except for our layover in Milwaukee. It really wasn't all that bad, but things just seemed to go wrong there! We flew on a small jet, 3 rows wide, which made the turbulence a little more exciting, and then when we landed, they couldn't get the jetway to connect to the plane. Lillian decided that would be good timing to start crying for the first time and Audrey announced that she had to go potty, quite desperately. So we had to make the trip to the back of the plane while everyone else was in wanting to be in the aisle waiting to get to the front. Once we got back to the bathroom we found that the lights would not come on because the plane was parked, so Audrey refused to go to the bathroom. So back to our seats. Then, for some reason, Audrey panicked a little when she saw the cockpit door open on our way off the plane and refused to continue walking forward. Instead of waiting a second for me to talk to Audrey, the flight attendant decided to "help" by grabbing Audrey's hand and trying to drag her off the plane. Audrey was not impressed and the flight attendant ended up just grabbing her and carrying her off the plane! We had more adventures in the airport, including the bathroom being closed and Lillian spitting up all over me leading to the adventure of me trying to change my shirt in a bathroom stall while wearing a baby carrier and dealing with two kids! I was very glad to get on the plane to Philly and Audrey and Lillian calmed down and went to sleep.

When we arrived in Philly, Audrey was very excited to find Michael at the airport waiting for us. And her Nana was at our apartment for the first two days for a quick visit.

We got to explore a little bit, and went to a really neat place called the Smith Memorial Playground. It has a 24,000 square foot mansion that was built in 1899 for the purpose of being a playhouse, how neat is that? All of the rooms are set up with different themes. It's really a great place, only for kids 5 and under, and free! In the summer they have a massive outdoor playground and water park for kids 10 and under.

We are settling in well at our new apartment. Audrey is adjusting pretty well to her new bed, and loves having her own room and play room. Lillian will hopefully be sharing Audrey's room soon, but for now she is sleeping in our room. Audrey was sad to be sleeping "all alone" last night, but she went back to her room after a few minutes. It's a big change for all of us - Audrey was used to sleeping with me since Michael left for Philadelphia last year.

Audrey is so happy to have her things back and to have her family together. She is much more settled and happy. She acts up somewhat from time to time, but is really doing great. Her imaginative play is advancing so much lately and is hilarious to watch. She plays and sings to herself happily, and tells us that Goldilocks and Dora are playing with her.

I am going through a big adjustment too, learning to handle two children. Everything seems to take me a long time right now. Lillian is still easy, but she loves to eat and that takes a lot of time and results in a lot of diaper changes as well. At her check-up yesterday she had gained 28 ounces in 20 days and grown an inch! She was 9 lb 0.3 ounces yesterday. I am having a lot of fun, but we definitely have our moments - like trying to get from the apartment to the car and Audrey jumping into mud puddles and soaking her socks within moments of leaving the building! But I am so happy and content to be here and try to enjoy all of the crazy moments.

As far as photos go, all I have are a few that I took on my phone and a couple I took this morning. Hopefully I will be a little more organized this week.

Explosion in the play room!


Lillian in her carrier on the plane:

Lillian lounging at home:

Audrey at the neat Night Kitchen Bakery named after the Maurice Sendak book:

Audrey passed out on the flight to Philly:

My little monkey: