Halloween fun a school!

Visiting with Papa and a new room for the girls!

It's been a long time since we had a proper visit from just Papa, so we were especially excited when he agreed to spend a week here playing with the girls.   Aside from the normal grandparent things, we had a bunch of other plans for Papa, too.

We took full advantage of his handyman expertise, and set him to work on painting, fixing, and plumbing.  In addition to installing a new toilet and faucet and repairing a burst kitchen pipe (that the local plumber estimated it would cost $600 to fix), he also found time to paint the nursery with a skill and patience that only he possesses. 

In just a few days, he transformed the room from this 10+ year old drab, dirty mauve to a childhood play land complete with sunny yellow walls and a celery-green hillside that will soon be filled with "puppies, kitties, lambies, and maybe a giraffe" (per Elsie's request). 

Below is a little preview of the almost-finished room. It will be a few weeks before the rest of the mural is on the wall, but in the meantime the girls are thrilled with their bright and cheerful new room. And we have this guy to thank for it! Thanks so much, Dad!

Sylvie Harriet is 8 months!

Sylvie now weights 15lbs 8oz (7%) and is 27 inches long (40%) (for those interested, Elsie weighed 15lbs, 6oz (8%) and stretched to 27.5 inches (59%) at this age).  She is between size 2 and 3 diapers (when she uses disposables), and mostly wears 6-12 month clothes and size 2 shoes.

Sylvie consistently sleeps 2 hours at a time at night, with a few 4-hour chunks thrown in, too. She usually takes two naps a day, the first lasting one lasting 2 hours and the second lasting about 30 minutes.

Her hair continues to grow in slowly, and appears to be a curly, auburn brown.

She loves to eat, and wants to sit at the table with us at all three meals.  She especially seems to like protein (eggs, chicken, beans).  She no longer appreciates being fed by Mama or Dada, and insists on feeding herself (lots of food on the floor!).  She does a pretty good job using a pincer grasp on her food- she is less successful at self-feeding when a spoon is involved, though!

Sylvie is an expert crawler, and zooms around the house faster than we can keep up with her (Pongo's food and water dishes are favorite targets).  She prefers to walk holding our fingers, though, and would walk all day if we let her (and had backs that could handle that much leaning over!).

She has also mastered climbing stairs (and stools!) and cruising along furniture in the last month.  Sadly, she hasn't yet figured out how to safely navigate going down stairs, though she tries with great regularity.  Her other great joy is pushing her walker around the house- she thinks she is a pretty big kid to move upright on her own!

Sylvie's language is also exploding- she says "Mama" (for Josie) and "mamama" (for Mama milk), and seems to understand the words "Dada" and "Elsie" and the signs for "milk" and "all done" (though she hasn't signed them back to us yet).  Elsie is trying hard to get Sylvie to master saying her name next!

Being a sister has required a new level of negotiating for both girls, as Sylvie is suddenly not only capable of playing with Elsie's toys, but is also interested in them and perfectly able to take them for herself (even when Elsie puts them on a chair or stool to keep them away from her).  This has resulted in some very strong tantrums (by both girls), repeated conversations about being gentle,  and some very sweet moments of true sister play that are absolutely heartwarming to watch.

Elsie is thriving in her role as the big kid, and likes nothing better than being the first to hear Sylvie waking up on the monitor, then running into her room to get her before Mama or Daddy.  Sylvie thinks this kind of wake-up call is particularly wonderful!

Watch me grow:

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

 And just for fun, Elsie at 8 months:

Ballet Class

Elsie loves her ballet class, and asks to go pretty much every day (even though it's only once a week).  Last week the parents were able to watch the class- hilarity ensued.  Elsie seems to think the goals of class are being fastest, and falling down the most.  *Sigh*.  She is wearing the light pink leotard (thanks, Grandma RJ!) and her hair is braided.

My First Field Trip- to the Apple Orchard!

Talking about apples in the Grand Shelter.

"Twist and pull and put it in the bag!"

Who's afraid of an old scarecrow?

Baby Sylvie and Mama came, too.

Squash!

Playing on the logs.

Exploring the orchards.

Friendly goats.

Waiting for our apple bag.

Exploring the fields.

Yum!

My whole class "riding" the "Skule bus" (I'm in the hat).

Checking out the raspberry patch and scarecrows.

Eating apples with Roman.

And as a last bit of fun, we just so happened to go to the same orchard I have been going to for years, so you can enjoy watching me growth one more year!  And all these pictures were taken in the middle of October, so it is really fun to see how the weather has changed each year, too (2012 was FREEZING)!

2010

2011

2012

2013

Cousin time in MN

On our way to the wedding.

Ridiculous hornet in the back yard.  No photo shopping- that thing was only inches from my hand.

Catching up on cousin baby news.

Rough-and-tumble game of chase with Oscar.

And now Elsie wants a dog of her own...