Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Snow!

Oh Pittsburgh, I'm not a fan of the recent turn of events in the weather!  Hard to believe that only a few days ago we were playing outside in short sleeves and this morning we woke up to several inches of snow and preschool was canceled.  After Emily and I got over our initial disappointment, we headed outside to explore.



I can't believe this is the same car Sophie was lounging in merely a few days ago!


Sunday, February 20, 2011

Sunshine!

Pittsburgh enjoyed a gorgeous string of warm, sunny days last week.  I think we spent more time outside than inside on those days, soaking up all the vitamin D we could!



We inherited this swingset in our backyard. It needs a few minor repairs, but I expect we'll get a lot of use out of it!








Emily was giving Sophie pointers on how to drive.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Three Months Old!

Dear Sophie,

You are turning three months old already.  And even though I am looking forward to all that you will be able to do as you get older, your dad and I both think you are growing too fast.  Slow down already!  You're so much fun to be around these days.  There are actually days that a few hours go by before I can recall hearing you cry, and you often have trouble eating your entire bottle because you won't stop smiling.  (Your dad nicknamed you Smiley Cyrus, and I'm afraid it stuck).  And on top of that, you often giggle at me as I am trying to rock you and calm you down before naps.  You can't seem to fall asleep because you're too busy being happy!


Not that we don't have our issues, because you're still not napping great.  It's clear that you're tired, but also that you enjoy being around people too much to want to stay in your room by yourself for very long.  You nap just enough so that you won't pass out from exhaustion, and then want to come back downstairs and bat some more hanging toys or gaze adoringly at your sister.  And speaking of your sister, you clearly think she's pretty special because some of your biggest smiles are reserved for her.  And I have to say that seeing you smile at her like that, that's the reason having two kids is amazing and worth the exhaustion that I feel at the end of each and every day.  It melts my heart to see the two of you interact together!




You still don't like being on your tummy very much at all, though you'll tolerate it for a few minutes at a time as long as you can find your fingers to suck on.  You enjoys baths, as long as you don't get too cold.  And just like your sister, you are content as can be anytime we put you in the baby bjorn.  You prefer to nap in your swing, though I'm trying to convince you that the crib is okay too (it's not going well).  You do, however, sleep excellently in your crib every night, often sleeping 10 hours straight without a peep.  Thanks for that, sweetie!  You tend to get a pretty crabby only in the hours before you need to poop.  In fact, if you're fussy at all, it's usually for a good reason.


We love you so much Sophie Grace!

Love,

Mommy

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Heat Wave!

Well, it's sort of a heat wave.  It was in the mid 50s today here in Pittsburgh, so we took full advantage of the opportunity to get outside and play!  (Gotta love Emily's new camera face).





Saturday, February 12, 2011

Polka Nots

Emily said to me the other morning, "Mom, look, baby Sophie and I are both wearing polka nots!".  That warranted a picture.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Working Mom?

Before Emily was born, I planned to quit my job.  I just knew that I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom.  I was wrong.  I lasted about 9 months before I went back to work, only part-time but enough to give me some balance in my life again.  And it worked wonderfully for a few reasons.  First, I was only working three days per week.  Eric was home with Emily one day each week, and this meant that she only needed childcare two days each week.  I could live with that.  Second, her childcare was four houses down the street with a wonderful lady (Hi Julie!) who cared for Emily along with her own two kids in her home.  She let me bring Emily over in her pajamas and eat breakfast at her house.  Getting out the door was a cinch most mornings!  And third, my commute was about five minutes, and that's if traffic was bad.  So the stars aligned and I worked at this job for over two years.

When we moved to Pittsburgh, I knew that the decision to work again or not would not be so simple.  First, there are now two children, and one of them is still so tiny!  Second, two children are twice as expensive.  Some openings that I've seen would actually cause us to lose money by my calculations.  Can you believe it?  I have a graduate degree people!  And we don't have someone waiting four houses down to watch my babies.  And finally, unless I want to work at a bank or the local YMCA, my commute to work is guaranteed to be quite a bit longer.  All this is to say, working may not be in the cards for me for awhile.  I thought this would be hard, SO HARD.  And some days it is.  But amazingly, it's a lot better this time around.  Maybe it's because Emily is getting older and more creative in her play.  Maybe it's because I have been lucky enough to get a ridiculously good easy to care for infant.  Maybe it's because I don't know how we'd keep our house clean, do laundry or cook meals if I were working while Eric was so busy with school.  Maybe I've changed.  All I know is that right now, today, I'm happy to be where I am, at home with my babies playing duplos and scanning blogs for new recipes to try this week.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Developing Literacy Skills

Sophie and Emily are at different levels for developing their literacy skills, but here is a sneak peak of their current skill levels.  I would start with Sophie first, otherwise her video might be a bit of a letdown.  Unless, of course, you are a grandparent or other relative in which case staring at baby Sophie and listening to her coo is loads of fun.  I won't say much more because I don't wouldn't want to spoil anything.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/19486205]

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/19481724]