I wanna hold your hand

When I saw Jack helping Elizabeth walk the other day my heart just melted and I ran to grab the camera. She's so lucky to have such a great big brother. And yes, Jack is in his pj's. He declared last Wednesday a pajama day because it was too cold and snowy to go outside. I think every day is too cold and snowy to go outside and so I'm envisioning many more pajama days this winter.

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas"...

We spent the weekend putting up the tree and trying to get ready for Christmas. I think this is the first year that Jack really knows what Christmas is about and of course, he's excited about Santa coming. He asks me everyday if it is Christmas Eve yet and how is Santa going to get in our house since we have a fireplace without a chimney (I told him I'd leave the door unlocked). He also asked me if the reindeer will be cold, and told me that Santa won't be cold because he has a big beard to pull over his face. Sometimes it is hard to keep a straight face when he is telling me all his thoughts about Santa. It's hard to believe Christmas is almost here. It feels like it is January outside with the -30 plus windchill and the predicted foot of snow to arrive later this week. I tried to get a good picture of Jack and Elizabeth in their matching Christmas pajamas and after 23 pictures this is the best one I got.

Some very late Halloween photos

It's nap time and quiet now and finally time for me to get caught up. I'm hoping for long naps since both kids (and myself) have caught another nasty cold. Elizabeth was up several times last night because she can't suck her pacifier and breathe from her mouth (since her nose is so stuffed) at the same time. Anyway, Matt downloaded the back log of pictures today from the camera so I can get caught up. Here are a few pictures from Halloween of our spider and pumpkin. It was a gorgeous day and we had so much fun going around our new neighborhood and meeting our neighbors. I told Jack he could have one piece of candy for dinner that night and of course, he wanted the "big one" (one of our neighbors gave out full size candy bars). He's no dummy! Jack was also excited to open the box from Pop Grandma who sent some fun, silly things, including rubber lizzards and his favorite, cheetos.

Another month has come and gone

Elizabeth is now 11 months old and is certainly keeping us on our toes. This past month her two top teeth came in and I already miss the toothless baby grin. She will now stand by herself for a few seconds, but when she figures out she's standing she immediately falls down. She's also begun to take a few steps with Matt. He's so anxious for her to walk and I keep telling him not to hurry, she's still our baby. Her second word seems to be "gaga", our nickname for Misha. I'm proud to say that I have heard a few "mama's" the past few days. Although "mama" has been said in the string of her usual baby gibberish and not when she sees me. It's coming though. Her personality is so strong (I think she gets that from Matt-haha!) and she wants everything NOW, including whatever toy Jack is playing with. I already have to intervene in their sibling squabbles.
Today, Elizabeth found the remote and changed the channel on the TV and Jack hit her on the back. But, usually Jack is very patient with her and always watches out for her. I went to Minnesota for the
weekend and he told me he would "give Lizzie a kiss for me whenever she was sad". I'm not ready for her to be one so I'll cherish this last month of true babyhood.





She finally discovered the central vac outlets. What a great toy!



























Standing on her own!

Pumpkins

We did not take the kids to the pumpkin patch to choose pumpkins this year. The two weekends we were going to do it, the weather was terrible (wind, cold, rain, even snow). Luckily, my parents took them to the pumpkin patch in Iowa so they did have pumpkins on the front porch. Jack chose three small pumpkins for himself, Elizabeth and Misha. I took over 50 pictures trying to get a good shot of each of them with their pumpkins. I took a better picture of Misha with her pumpkin then I did of the kids with their pumpkins. For those that have met our wonderful lab, Misha, you know that is a feat since she, to most, is the craziest dog in the world. Anyway, here are some of the pictures I took. I'll add the pictures from Halloween soon. It is a gorgeous day here today (supposed to be a record high of 75) so we are going to go out and enjoy the last of the nice weather!




Misha can really be a calm, lazy dog.





Elizabeth enjoyed eating her pumpkin (notice the drool on her shirt!).
























Jack with his little pumpkin (for some reason he won't give me a nice smile!).

"Uh-Oh"

Elizabeth is quite the chatterbox and finally spoke her first recognizable word. Not "dada" (much to Matt's dismay), not "mama" (despite all my attempts), but "uh-oh". She has even turned it into a game and loves to drop anything she has and then say "uh-oh". Yesterday, Elizabeth and I went to the outlet mall and several times I heard her saying "uh-oh" and then repeating it. I looked behind us and she had dropped her toys while we were walking. What a turkey. Now, when we are walking Misha, it is a game for her to drop her toys and pacifier and say her favorite word. I'm still working on "mama". I figure for all the sleepless nights I've had the past 10 months that should at least be her second word!

Slowly growing, but growing nonetheless

We met our new pediatrician last week and had Elizabeth's belated 9 month checkup. At just over 10 months, she's teetering on the growth curve. She weighed in at 16.9 pounds which puts her at 5%. I think our new doctor thought I was nuts as I was THRILLED that she was on the curve, even at the low percent. I had to spend a good portion of the visit explaining to her that her brother was even smaller, weighing just 16 pounds at one year and still weighs just 26 pounds. I told her about all the tests that Jack went through at Mayo when he was Elizabeth's age and thankfully all were normal, albeit painful for him. I think I convinced her that our kids are just small.