The New Things

There are new things everyday around here. Here are this weeks highlights. Joe has successfully moved from bottle to sippy cup for all but one feeding. He can only use the straw cups right now, but he does great and enjoys it. The only feeding left is the one before bed and it's Corey and I who are holding onto it more than Joe. Joe has also started walking behind wheeled toys. Video footage to prove it below.

Libby has come into herself and her twoness. Her vocabulary is ever expanding and more and more sentences are coming out intelligibly. She is a great eater-trying everything I make from lentils to vegetarian chili-mac. The spicier the better for this child! She loves to brush her teeth and have mommy make her hair pretty. I like to french braid it on each side-adorable! She loves to play outside and be with her friends. Last week Shawna and I took all the kids to a little park near our house. There wasn't much play equipment, but there were swings and a slide. The slide was high and steep, but our daredevil kids were unfazed. They must have gone down it 100 times. Joe and Addy watched from the grass where they sat for 45 minutes without moving. Libby also cannot decide if she likes Joe or not. Some days she plays with him nicely-giving him toys and letting him chase her. Other days she lashes out at him if he even gets near her. The other day I heard him making noise and walked into the room to find Libby sitting on him saying "Go Joe, I wanna ride." She's a hoot and a handful!

Libby pretend sleeping on the coffee table-she even snores!

More to come as they grow and change (Joe goes for his 9 month appointment April 6).

Pictures as promised

I know that I have been really bad about posting-I wish I could say that I am really busy, but the truth is I just use my time a little differently now that there are two little rascals moving about the house. When Joe goes down for the first nap, I exercise and shower while Libby plays (or exercises with me). Then the lunch preparation begins. When both kids are down in the afternoon, I have quiet time and I watch TV-or sleep-or read-or do anything that is nearly impossible to do with the kids awake. The afternoon is when the kids need a lot of mommy-initiated play. Then dinner, baths, etc. By the time they go to bed I just want to sit down and hang out with Corey! It means there is not a lot of time for blogging, but I still want to record their lives and share it with all of you so please forgive me if they are sporadic. Libby's rendition of "Mary had a Little Lamb"

Information Only (no pics sorry!)

We have had a really uneventful week. The kids got colds again so we have been wiping noses and fighting through meals for most of the week. The kids are great despite the snot. They have started playing "together" sometimes. Libby will run away and Joe will chase her. But Libby quickly tires of Joe's immaturity and goes and plays by herself. She is still singing everything. Her newest song is "Mary had a little Lamb" which comes out more like "Mary had a doodoo lamb.." We are constantly asking her to sing songs and she usually obliges unless there are strangers around-she can be a little shy.

I weighed them both yesterday and Libby was 24 pounds and Joe was 23.5. She is already competitive! Also accomplished this week was the booking of the surgery. She is scheduled for June 1. It looks like we will only have to stay for 1 night and then of course go back for checkups etc. UPMC is moving into their new hospital at the beginning of May so we will get to be in it (hopefully it is nicer than the old one).

Other than that we have been hanging out with friends and catching up on housework. We did leave our kids overnight with their MeMe and Pappy on Saturday and enjoyed a night out with the Allens. Sunday morning, Pappy heard Libby and thought she was knocking on the door upstairs but when he came out of his room she was knocking on the grandfather clock in the hallway. She is hysterical sometimes!

Corey has some time off later in the week, so I will try to take some pics and post for all of you who don't get to see our kids on a regular basis.