Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree ...

This weekend, we set up our Christmas trees and decorated them. It turned into a 2-day event, mostly because we decided that we didn't have enough lights, which required a trip to the store. Nonetheless, it helped to spread out the fun and Sam really enjoyed helping us.


Day 1:

Daddy's little helper:

Sophia showed a little bit of interest in the tree:

And then quietly enjoyed a snack off to the side:

Momma and her girls:

Day 2


It was a challenge, at first, to get Sam to remember that most of the ornaments are fragile and need to be handled with care. Pretty soon though, she was an expert ...

Choosing the perfect ornament:

Admiring it for a moment:

One last look:

A little help from Daddy:

Pausing for a quick picture:

Adding some final touches to the tree in our family room:

Now that we have the trees up, Samantha keeps asking if it is Christmas yet. We have a countdown on our fridge, and I have explained that we have several days to go until the holiday. She insists on wishing me a "Merry Christmas" every morning and I just chuckle and thank her. I can't wait to see how excited she is on Christmas morning this year (Sophia too)!

Sophia is Nine Months Old!

Sophia is nine months old today (and today is also my mom's birthday)! Such a special day ...

I will add the stats on Sophia's weight and length after we go to the doctor on Wednesday this week. I will be taking both girls with me that day because Sophia has her appointment at 10 am for her nine-month check-up and Samantha has her appointment immediately following at 10:30 am for her three-year check-up.

Sophia hasn't started crawling yet, and I think that it will be a little while before she does that. Frankly, I'm not in any hurry. I like the fact that she pretty much stays in one spot when she plays, especially with Christmas right around the corner. We will be putting up our Christmas trees today, and as of right now, I don't have to worry about putting a gate around them.

When she's in the right mood (and someone is close by), she will entertain herself for a short period of time. She likes to dig in her little toy box and pull out all kinds of "goodies."

She's pretty happy when she finds what she was looking for:

Sophia's drooling has slowed down dramatically in the last couple of months. In fact, we only use bibs now when she is eating in her highchair. She still loves to put things in her mouth, though. For example, she loves these beads:

** Sophia sleeps from about 7:45 pm to about 8:30 am most days. She takes a morning nap and an afternoon nap, and often a little snooze for about 30 minutes right before/after dinner. She is very easy to put down for a rest, often falling asleep on her own with the help of Shelby, her musical seahorse and her blanket.

** She eats three meals a day with us (still fruits, veggies and grains until I get the "ok" from the doctor to start with white meats this month). She is a great eater -- she never spits her food out. And, she loves yogurt, which I introduced a couple of weeks ago.

** She sits up well on her own, rarely falling over. It's fun to watch Sam and her interact now; they seem to play very well together. She still likes to have people around her at all times and gets upset if you leave her unattended for just a couple of minutes. It can be a challenge, but I like that she is pretty social.

** Sophia loves to giggle and we can make her smile, almost on command. Steve simply touches her little "button nose," and she smiles immediately. He refers to that as her "smile button."


I am getting very excited about Christmas this year, just watching the excitment on the girls' faces. We have started some traditions already, and I love that Sam remembers some of them from last year. These girls are the loves of my life and make me the happiest mom ever:

'Twas the Night Before Sam's Birthday ...

On the night before Sam's birthday, Steve and I got a chance to do something fun with her -- just the three of us. My mom stayed at our house and watched Sophia while Steve, Sam and I headed to the movie theater to see Happy Feet 2.

This was a very big event because it was the FIRST time that Samantha had ever been to a movie theater. (I saved the ticket stubs and recorded the date in her baby book). Even though the movie wasn't that great, she had the BEST time, sitting with us and enjoying her popcorn.

She spent part of the time sitting on Steve's lap:

And part of the time sitting in a booster seat between us:

Afterwards, I couldn't resist getting a picture of her next to the movie cut-out, just so that we would always remember that this was her very first movie theater experience:

Happy 3rd Birthday Samantha!

Yesterday was Samantha's 3rd birthday, and we celebrated on her actual day with a BIG fish party! We invited family and friends and almost everyone was able to attend. It was a great celebration and one that I am sure Sam is never going to be able to forget -- after all, she helped with most of the party preparations and decorations!

Two weeks before the party, we began a "countdown" on the refrigerator, where every morning she would find the appropriately-numbered fish and glue it on a chart that we made together. On the day of her party, we had a special fish to put on "party day." Here she is, first thing in the morning (with wild hair), after she put the special fish in place:

We also made some other decorations for the party, including this project where the "fish" is actually Samantha's handprint:

And this special frame featuring a picture taken three years ago, on the day that Samantha was born:

Before all of the guests arrived, the girls posed for a quick picture:

The birthday girl:

Checking out some of her decorations:

Sampling the Swedish fish:

We made a pretend fish bowl with plastic fish as a decoration:

The aquarium cake that I made:

The dessert table, featuring the fish cupcakes that I made (Sam was pretty happy with them):

Fish jello with gummy fish:

Her spring weather ensamble from Grammy and Papa:

A harmonica from Daddy:

Pretend food for her kitchen from Papa:

Opening the card from Momma and Daddy:

The guitar from Momma and Daddy:

A cash register from Papa:

And Samantha received MANY more cute gifts -- she is so overjoyed and excited to play with everything today!


After gifts, we migrated back to the dining room to blow out candles and have cake and ice cream. Of course, no birthday would be complete without a birthday hat (something that Sam was insistent that she wanted 2 days before her party -- we set to work making that immediately).

So happy after blowing out her candles:

Happy 3rd birthday to the little girl that made me a momma for the first time. These last three years have the happiest of my life, and I am so proud to see the girl that she is becoming -- so smart, so social and so beautiful.

A Picnic

There were a couple of really rainy days around here this last week, and it made it pretty difficult to take the girls outside (something that I try to do at least once every day while we still can). So, in order to occupy them, I announced that we were going to have a picnic -- inside.

Samantha helped to set out the blanket and bring their snacks into the livingroom. She even insisted that Sophia have her own "teacup" for the event.

It made for a fun afternoon (we worked on flashcards during the picnic) and everyone was all smiles. Sometimes it's just the simple things ...

Bathtime!

A few weeks ago, right before Sophia turned eight months old, she was finally sitting up on her own. We were waiting for that day to come so that we could officially pack away the plastic baby bathtub, and transition her into taking baths in the kitchen sink (just like we did with Sam).

Sophia is doing very well with the transition. She has always liked baths (just like Sam did) and she knows now that this is part of her bedtime routine. She has a bath around 7:30 pm and then pajamas and bedtime. If I am working (three nights a week), Steve gives her a partial bottle before her bath -- no more nursing or bottles after her pajamas are on. She falls asleep very easily and I am grateful that we were able to eliminate that last feeding of the night.

A couple nights ago, just for something different, we put the girls in the tub together. Sophia is definitely not ready for that yet; she's too unstable and it makes me nervous, but Sam really liked having her sister in there with her!

Sophia was busy checking out all of the toys:

All fresh and clean:

Pumpkin Pics

Last week, I attempted to take a couple pictures of the girls sitting next to one of our pumpkins before we carved it that day. It was such a nice-looking pumpkin, and I had the best of intentions, but the girls weren't in a "cooperating mood," I guess. Nonetheless, here are some of the pictures:


Sam's "dancing skirt" is a "staple" in her wardrobe these days:

Sophia wasn't pleased with the photoshoot, hence the watery eyes:

"Seriously, Mom -- Are we taking ANOTHER picture?"

I laughed so hard at the sheer desperation in the girls' faces in that last photo, that I did finally decide that the photoshoot was over.

Taking pictures of the girls together (an infant and a toddler) is a challenge, and you just have to know when a breaking point has been reached ... I find myself taking millions lots of pictures of the girls and then editing them, often discarding the ones where no one is looking at the camera or where someone is having a breakdown. All in all, I usually find that I have a least one good one, and I have to be grateful for that.