Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Isaac is Eight Months Old!


This has been the month of crawling! You are the master of your own universe now. You can go anywhere you want!

The best way to describe your crawling is "inchworming." You pull yourself along on your elbows then bring your knees up to your belly. You're fast. Surprisingly fast.

Your favorite things to get into are anything that is forbidden: Emma's water bowl, electrical cords, any toy of Noah's that has small pieces, drum sticks, houseplants, dust bunnies of Emma's hair, important pieces of paper, the list goes on...

The most often overheard phrase around the house this month was, "No! Get away baby! That's mine!" Your brother's world was rocked by your new mobility. He still likes having you around, but he liked it a little better when you stayed in one spot and he could have all his toys to himself. It's very hard for him to understand that all these toys he's had to himself are now supposed to be shared with you (well, he's supposed to share the big toys that aren't dangerous to you, not the other ones). If Noah is playing with five firetrucks, I try to convince him to let you play with two of them. The problem is that the two he shares with you are never the ones that you wanted. Well, I guess this is the beginning of figuring out how to really play together. I love watching you two interact.

What will the next month bring?

We love you, Isaac!
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Two Mr. Cools

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Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Pure Happiness


Pure happiness is...your big brother pushing you in a swing as you laugh and laugh!
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Thursday, June 24, 2010

12 years ago today...

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Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Paper Dancing


Noah really likes cutting with scissors, but he couldn't decide which was more fun: cutting the paper or dancing in it.
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Monday, June 21, 2010

Pulling Up


I was planning on posting this picture tonight and writing about how Isaac is starting to pull himself up on his knees, but then this happened...


Isaac pulled himself up to standing! We play in Noah's bed after naptime almost every day, and Isaac has been doing pull-ups on the guard rail for a few weeks now. Today, Isaac was doing pull-ups and discovered that if he pulls hard enough, he can stand up. He did it again and again (and then again after I got the camera), and squealed with delight the whole time. As you can see from the above picture, his big brother did not share his pure delight with this new skill. Sometimes it takes Noah a while to wake up from his nap.
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Painting a Masterpiece


Noah has been painting a lot lately - he loves it!
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Isaac says "Go Blue!"

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Sunday, June 20, 2010

Happy Father's Day!


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Friday, June 18, 2010

First Swimming Lesson


We had a great day at our neighborhood pool on Thursday morning.  Noah had his first swimming lesson with is friends Austin and Allie. His swimming teacher is Ms. Sandie from our church.  They worked on skills like kicking, blowing bubbles, jumping in the pool (into Ms. Sandie's arms), and floating in their backs.  Noah thought it was a lot of fun.

I swam with Noah and Isaac after the lesson, and immediately noticed that Noah had so much more confidence after his lesson.  He was floating just like his was in the above picture, but he didn't need me to hold on to his hands the whole time.  He kept saying, "Look Mommy!  I'm swimming with no help!"  We spent Saturday morning at the pool and Noah had a blast jumping into the pool.  He jumped with so much more force and power with his legs, and by the end of the morning he didn't want anyone to catch him (so we would stand farther back with our hands underwater and catch him that way).  He would jump in and go completely underwater, then his floaties would get him back to the surface.  That's a whole lot of swimming progress in three days!  
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Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Isaac and Cruz


Isaac had so much fun at his playdate this morning with is buddy Cruz. Cruz is just a few weeks younger than Isaac, and he took a giant developmental leap as he became an official sitter while he was playing with Isaac. It was such a sweet moment! We're planning to get together often so these boys can have fun playing together.
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Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Happy Birthday Daddy!


---13 and 35---

13 years ago my sweetheart asked me to marry him. He said it was the only birthday present he wanted!

35 years ago my sweetheart was born!

Happy Birthday Daddy Matt (as Noah called him yesterday)
We love you!

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Monday, June 14, 2010

Built-in Entertainment


I was making dinner while Noah played by himself and Isaac played in the exersaucer. Isaac likes the exersaucer, but was starting to let me know that he was ready to get out. As I was cooking, I turned around and saw that Noah had pulled up a chair and was playing with his brother, who was now quite happy. Hmm...is that what people mean when they say that siblings are built-in entertainment? It was such a sweet moment.
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Sunday, June 13, 2010

The Littlest Handbell Player

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Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Can You Find The Baby?


Can you find the baby in this picture? I can't. I see a little boy wearing a hat and mini-crocs and playing with a firetruck. No baby here!
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Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Count On!


Noah has been very interested in letters since about the time he could walk. Numbers, on the other hand, held no interest for him. That is, until now. A few weeks ago, Noah became receptive to learning how to count correctly (he has loved counting things for a while now, but kind of did it his own way, and the number four was never used for some reason!). Things have now clicked and he's counting everything he sees. It has been so fun to watch him become interested. I got out some number and counting activities, and he sailed through them and thought they were fun. He even regularly uses the number four. It's so cool to be three!
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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Tub Time


Isaac is taking his baths in the afternoon these days, and one day Noah decided that he wanted to help. In this picture, Noah is looking at the bath toys and deciding which toys his brother would like to play with. They can splash up quite a storm in there, and it's the perfect solution to bath time!
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