Beatrice, 30 months

This update is almost two weeks late but I'm a little behind since we've been visiting your 'Meatball and PawPaw' in Missouri.

It's hard to believe you're already 2 1/2.  You've become such a little lady.  You love to carry purses and backpacks and will take as many as I'll allow when we leave the house.  Currently your Dora backpack and a clear and green striped tote bag are your favorites.  And you fill them with all of the necessities, coloring book, crayons, sunglasses, and cell phone.

The other thing you love as much, if not more, than your purses are your babies.  There's Super baby, New baby,  Baby doll, Dora, Dora doll, and Ballerina.  Every night you tuck them in under special blankie and at least one will go with us on outings.

You also seem to be going through a dress phase.  Every morning when asked what you want to wear you respond, 'a cute dress with bloomies'.  If only I would've known this at the beginning of the summer I wouldn't have stocked up on tanks and t-shirts!  Size wise you can wear a 2T but it's usually a little big.  In shorts and skirts (when I can talk you into them) you're an 18 months.

Food wise you continue to be picky but you will at least try everything on your plate.  Fruit is a huge favorite, which is good, as is 'yogurt juice' (kefir) right now.  You've also surprised me by loving, and requesting frequently, tofu.

You continue to be a great sleeper, still taking one nap in the afternoon (for about 2 hours) and sleeping most nights until 7am.

Most of all you are such a funny and engaging little girl.  You love to make your little brother laugh, you love to read, you've found a new obsession in Max & Ruby, and you love to pretend play.  We've spent the past 3 weeks in Missouri and you've had such fun that I'm going to hate it when we have to leave.  But preschool starts next month and I can't wait to see what that brings!

Heather

Charlie, 8 months

Time is flying by right now.  It feels like I just posted about what Charlie's doing at 7 months and here his 8 month birthday has just passed.

Charlie is still the happiest baby.  Nothing makes him laugh like his big sister and he can't get enough of peek-a-boo.  Usually we play after his nightly bath and he uses his towel to cover his eyes until I ask "where's Charlie?".

He hasn't started crawling on all fours yet but army crawls everywhere.  And there's nothing he isn't into right now.  It's like he's been scoping out the house for months and now he's on a mission to grab and see everything.

And in true boy fashion he gravitates towards the normal suspects.  He absolutely loves balls and banging anything that makes noise.

He now has four teeth (two top and two bottom) and is still eating really well, as well as really messy.  We've taken to feeding him only in a diaper (classy, i know) because he gets food everywhere.  This past week he decided to blow raspberries every time I would place a spoonful of food into his mouth.

Thankfully his sleeping habits are back to normal.  No more 45 minute crying sessions at bedtime.  I'm hoping that was just connected to teething.  But it does seem we have an early riser.  He usually goes to bed around 8pm and pretty much always wakes up at 5am.  He will nurse and go back to sleep but at that point we're usually awake.

We're also taking trip number 2 in a few days and this time I'll be flying alone with both Bea and Charlie.  Fingers crossed all goes well!!

Heather

Charlie, 7 months

Charlie turned 7 months old on the 12th and what a busy month it's been!  It seems like he's changed so much in the last two months.  Going from only being able to sit for a few seconds to army crawling everywhere, much to the dismay of Bea.  With his new found mobility he's also found that his sister's toys (which were previously out of reach) are just as fun, if not more, than his.  I feel like this is just the beginning of us hearing "No Charlie!  Charlie has my x, y, z..." oh well, it's to be expected.

This is literally the happiest baby I've ever seen.  He will laugh like crazy when you tickle him, when Bea dances for him, when you make funny faces or dance, pretty much anytime.  And he's such a cuddle baby.  He loves nothing more than to nap next to mommy and daddy.

We started solid foods a little earlier with Charlie so he's already had quite the variety of foods.  So far the only dislike has been green beans (and it was only once).  He loves cherries, strawberries, avocado, and yogurt and we're adding new foods everyday.

He also took his first cross country flight last week.  He's at that awkward flying age where all he wants to do is be on the floor moving around so it wasn't the most relaxing flight but all in all it went well.

We're also having a sleeping set back, unfortunately.  Up until a few weeks ago Charlie would nap 2+ hours every afternoon, the same time as Bea, which meant that I had 2+ hours to do things around the house (or catch up on shows).  For some reason he's refusing to nap unless I'm lying beside him and going to bed at night has turned into a 45 minute ordeal of crying, rocking more, crying, etc.  I'm hoping that this is related to teething (so far we have 2 bottom teeth and I can see a top tooth coming in) because I felt so lucky to have such a good sleeper!

I can't wait to see what the next month brings!

Heather