Elliot Starts To Walk!

I've always been a little unclear about the famous 'milestones'. Like-does dragging himself across the floor qualify as crawling? And, what exactly does walking mean?-the first tentative step or two or when he can walk across the room?

Well, tonight, Elliot walked almost across the room and walked back and forth between Dave and myself---so, that's at least 'starting to walk', right?? He took his first step or two a couple of weeks ago and then three and then four steps a couple of days ago, but tonight was the first time that he started to toddle around. What a big boy!

Tree Lighting

I bundled up the babies and met Dave in town to watch the Christmas tree lighting in front of the capitol building. Despite Dave's best efforts, I bought the babies matching monkey hats and mittens-they're just too cute and I know that they'll only go along with matching accessories for so long! We arrived just in time for the countdown for the tree lighting; there were decorations and lights, and local children's choruses sang Christmas carols.

I love these small town events-they're so much fun for the kids (and us!), and there's really no hassle--everything is so close, there's no traffic and there's always accessible parking. And more often than not, we run into acquaintances and friends.

One Year Stats

Elliot had his one year old well baby visit today. It made me a little sad-my baby is getting so big! He's a definite one year old-waving, clapping, imitating, saying his first words, starting to throw little fits when he doesn't get his way and getting into EVERYTHING. He's figuring out how to torture his sister and certainly doesn't back down to her. He's precious.

And, for the grandparents (and Jodi!), here are his one year stats:

Weight: 19.06 lbs (5%)
Length: 29 inches (25%)

He's a handsome little peanut. But he seems so big to us-he's 3 lbs bigger than Delaney was at one year. Delaney wasn't 19 lbs until she was 21 months. However, and I can't believe that I'm putting this in writing, but I swear that Delaney has had a little growth spurt--Her 18 month clothing fits perfectly now, and I think that she'll be in a 2T soon.

Thanksgiving

We had an absolutely wonderful Thanksgiving. Dave and Laney started on the stuffing right after breakfast, and it was a definite favorite at dinner. Laney is a great liitle cook and follows directions really well.

Delaney is a little verbal sponge right now-soaking up tons of words and all sorts of phrases. Her favorite right now is-'Ellie-don't do that, don't do that, no, no, no'. She very definitively knows what she thinks is 'yummy' and 'ooh, yucky', and lets everyone know it! Yesterday she was 'chatting' on her phone, telling 'Gramma' all about how Elliot pulls her hair. It's adorable.

While we were visiting family, Laney, Elliot and I were sick for-oh, about 2 1/2 weeks of our 3 1/2 week trip. However, Grandma B and Pepah took good care of us, and in a way, it was easier to be sick away from home than it is when I'm at home by myself with the babies. By Thanksgiving Day, we were all (finally) feeling a lot better.

Delaney and Elliot had a great time playing with their cousins. It was really cute-Delaney tagged along with Hannah and Andrew and would have followed them anywhere. Andrew read books to Laney, and Hannah played 'horsey' with her. Andrew and Hannah were so sweet to Laney and Elliot.

Since we live so far away, we rarely are able to celebrate holidays with our families, so we very much appreciated and were grateful to celebrate Thanksgiving Day with Lynde, Sang, Sang's cousin Dorrey, Julie, Chuck, Hannah, Andrew and Ken and Terry, and Grandma and Pepah.

Dave and I certainly can get caught up in all of the daily hassles of life-fussy babies, too many bills, too little sleep.... But we are so grateful for our lives-our babies are happy and healthy, Dave has a good job and we have so many wonderful friends and family. We are very, very lucky.

And we're so lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the country. I was so glad to see the wide open skies and feel all of that sunshine when we arrived 'home' yesterday!

It's The Big One!

My sweet baby Elliot is one year old today. I had been a mom for 15 months when Elliot was born-a relatively short time-, but he certainly was born into a very different family than his big sister. When Delaney was born, I held her all day-literally, all day-staring at her in awe-with Elliot, I could barely catch my breath during the day-much less brush my teeth or change out of my pajamas, but I so looked forward to our quiet times at night when the house was silent and we could just snuggle in the big white chair with a comfy blanket.

This little boy makes me love being a mommy. He is wonderful. So, so wonderful. He crinkles his nose when he smiles. He likes to rest his little face against my cheek. He gives slobbery kisses and big hugs.

He reminds me of a sweet little forest creature-chewing on sticks in our backyard, digging in the dirt (and eating it too-of course), crawling and climbing, sniffing everything and rolling around in the leaves. He doesn't sit still for more than a minute and is so, so busy.

He is quietly persistent, testing his big sister, and not backing down to her. He looks for Laney everywhere-when he wakes up from his nap, he immediately crawls over to her door, stands up, and starts pounding on it.

He always goes down slides head first and seems to dive into everything head first-with total enthusiasm and curiosity.

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

Happy Birthday Elliot!

Delaney, Elliot and I have had terrible, terrible colds for the past week. Delaney was sick right before her first birthday, so I guess first birthday sickness is a (bad) tradition in our house! Since I'm feeling so crummy and literally have no voice, Grandma B played hooky from work to help me with the kids which was so wonderful.


Despite his cold, Elliot thoroughly enjoyed his cupcakes-made by Grandma B and Delaney. He devoured two cupcakes and easily could've eaten another two.

In The East

Less than a week after Halloween, we headed to Long Island for Uncle Mat's wedding. The trip to Long Island was about what about what you would expect when traveling across the country with a tempermental two year old and a squirmy-can't-sit-still-for-three-mintues-almost-one-year-old---sheer hell. Dave acted as the family sherpa, lugging two awkward toddler car seats through three different airports as well as two very large diaper bags. Delaney kept us living in fear of one of her God-awful tantrums as she shouted 'off plane, off plane' on the flights. Elliot crawled around on disgusting airport floors, putting who-knows-what into his mouth and squirmed and screamed on the planes. I repeatedly swore that we were never going to travel anywhere again.


We arrived in New York tired and more than a little frazzled. But at least Dave and I were still married and hadn't given away one of our children. We roughed it through a couple of sleepless nights.

Delaney was the flower girl in Mat and Rebecca's wedding and she walked down the aisle all by herself--I was so proud of her and I still can't believe it (pictures to come!). The bride was beautiful and the groom was dashing. I managed to drink 1 1/2 glasses of wine and ate one little appetizer before Elliot became completely inconsolably tired and I took him back to his grandparent's house.


I got to meet Marty and Damien's little boy-Mason--finally! Mason liked to follow Delaney around and Elliot enjoyed some boy time. I, on the other hand, was so happy to spend time with Marty and we even managed to sneak away one night for a couple of drinks.


Both Delaney and Elliot were able to visit their Great Grandma D in the hospital. It is so special for them (and us) to have great grandparents.


Elliot managed to unhook one of Grandma D's monitors and kept trying to steal her glasses, but I have a feeling that Grandma D didn't mind so much.


On Saturday Grandma Mary and Gramps drove us to Philadelphia, where we met my parents at Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Bill's house. It was so nice to visit with Carolyn, Bill and their boys Jeffrey and Michael. Their kids are so wonderful and were so sweet to Delaney and Elliot. I hope that Carolyn and Bill will let me in on their parenting secrets (because there is a magic formula, right?!)!


On Sunday, we visited with my grandparents-Nancy and Frank, who had never met Elliot. I think that they were quite impressed with the little guy. Both Nancy and Frank were surprised that I have two blonde babies (I'm still surprised!). Frank playfully took Delaney's cup and pretended to drink from it-which she thought was funny, but not nearly as hilarious as when she gave him Elliot's sippy cup to drink from.

My parents drove us to Pittsburgh on Sunday afternoon. It was a long drive but we survived in relatively good spirits.