Isabel's Big Steps

It has been very exciting the last week watching Isabel start walking. She was taking a few steps last week, as you can see in the first video. And today she has been all over the place. She can now easily stand up on her own and no longer needs us to set her up to walk. She is quite motivated and continues to do it more and more. She's a quick study. Check it out for yourself!
On a funny note, we have a penguin that sings "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" (you can see in the second video), and the first few times Cooper played it he thought that the last words were "Merry Breakfast"! So cute!

Sorry for the orientation of this next video. I keep forgetting that when you turn our camera to the side, the video comes out sideways. Hopefully you'll get the idea!

Thanksgiving and Gramps' Birthday!

What a Thanksgiving we had! We spent Wednesday and Thanksgiving morning with the Perines and Leggetts and got to spend some good time (though never enough) with cousins Eva and Alice, and all the aunts and uncles. We had turkey dinner with everyone in Vermont early afternoon, then got into the car and headed to Virginia! Thankfully, the kids were wonderful in the car and we made it down there in record time. We had a great time down there as we celebrated Gramps' 60th birthday on Friday night with the family, and then on Saturday night with a big surprise party for him with family and friends. As you can see, it was not only a 60th birthday party, but a "60's" theme party! It was a great time. Cooper especially liked playing with his cousins, Ryan and Jackson.

Introduction of the spoon

One day I figured I may as well try Isabel with a spoon. I can't remember when I did this first with Cooper (as I neglected to write anything down, and haven't learned my lesson the second time around). She did quite well for the first time. Here are a few clips.

Kiddie Update

Well, it's been a long time since the last entry. Not sure what we've been so busy with, but time sure seems to fly by. The kids are doing great. Cooper is growing up way to fast. His communication continues to improve every day as do his expressions. When you ask him to do something, he loves to answer "Nope, I'm too busy." Or he says something and you don't agree with him, he answers, "Yup, I think so." He's a little cutie.

Isabel is also growing like a weed. She's eating great and starting to dismiss her bottle at times. This makes me happy as I really enjoy the end of the formula and bottle days. We've just started some milk in a sippy cup with her, which she's currently contemplating. She's quite close to walking and has taken a few steps so far. Her standing balance is still pretty limited, so I'm sure it will be a few weeks, but Cooper is sure in for a surprise when she starts walking. I think that goes for me too! In the meantime, she' s happiest on the little push/ride toy. She loves the music it makes and can easily get on/off of it and ride it around. She also loves to push it and walk all around the house. I think when she starts to walk she'll be all over the place. She has two bottom teeth, and that's it for now.

We recently went to Sears to get their photos taken. We have a great professional photo of Cooper when he was about 9 months old that we love so we figured, we should get some of Belle too. We also have a gorgeous yellow silk dress that Carolyn, and I were both photographed in as babies. I didn't want Belle to grow out of it before we were able to get a picture. It was quite an eventful photo session and I was in a full sweat trying to get those 2 kids to pose. When Cooper was photographed at 9 months he was not yet crawling so it was a breeze to shoot him. Isabel, not so much. She was all over the place. And then trying to get the two of them in a shot was a whole other issue. Needless to say, we got some great pictures, and I've included a few here. Please note the lollipop in the picture of the two of them. Bribery is a parent's best friend. Hope all is well with everyone. We can't believe Thanksgiving is this coming week. But we're really looking forward to lots of family time! More photos to come from that I'm sure!

More Halloween...

On Halloween, again, we weren't sure if Cooper was going to be agreeable to wearing a costume, but he did, (with just a little encouragement). We decided to put Isabel in a costume that was a little more girly. I thought she was a sweet little thing until her great Aunt Sue called her a play boy bunny. Nice Aunt Sue. It was not a very nice day so we skipped the door to door trick or treating, and instead just stopped by all of the relatives house. And just from those 5 stops Cooper had more than his fill of candy. I never liked Halloween growing up, but I must say, I'm enjoying it much more as a parent.

(One more picture from Spooktacular)

Halloween

We have had a long Halloween celebration that started last Saturday. We carved Jack 'O Lanterns at home. Cooper didn't want his to have a scary face, he just wanted a "happy pumpkin." Then on Sunday we went downtown where Middlebury was having the second annual Spooktacular. We weren't sure if Cooper was even going to put on a costume as getting dressed into new clothes is quite an ordeal these days. He didn't want to wear the monkey costume we got for him, but he was willing to wear the Bob the Builder/Handy Manny accessories. Thank goodness we had some overalls in the closet. I think his "thrown together" costume turned out pretty well. He really enjoyed going from store to store and getting candy. He went straight for the lollipops as that's his candy of choice these days. Isabel made a pretty cute little tiger as well.

Another Great Visit

Last weekend Aunt Linsey came to visit and brought her fiance Mark! We were so happy to meet Mark and had a great time with them both. We spent a little time on the Waterfront in Burlington, which you'll see in the pictures below. That same weekend Aunt Kate and Alice were in town. We were lucky enough to babysit cousin Alice on Saturday night, while Aunt Kate had a few hours to herself. It was a great weekend with family and just wish everyone lived a little closer!

Cooper and Cousin Alice

Thanks Aunt Casey!

Casey and Cooper in their fort.

We had a great weekend with Aunt Casey. She came all the way from Virginia to see us and we were so sad to see her leave! Thanks for coming to visit Casey!

Isabel's Big Day

Isabel had quite an active day yesterday. For the last couple weeks she's been pulling herself up to standing more and more, and yesterday she started cruising along the couch for the first time. She also is very interested in the stairs and climbed those for the first time yesterday as well. This is going to get interesting...

Road of Books

I was quite annoyed yesterday at Cooper when he decided to pull every book off of his bookshelf onto the floor. However, shortly after, he had built a "road" that travelled the length of our hallway. So cute!

Apple Orchard

Cooper, Isabel and Rowdy

Cooper Update

Cooper is growing so fast, right before our eyes. He continues to talk more and more, and has now started asking the question "why?" I like to try to answer him as much as possible, but after about the 5th "why?" in a row, the answer is no doubt, "because mommy said so." He LOVES singing and dancing right now. He knows many nursery rhymes, but his favorite song is still the theme song to "Bob the Builder". "Bob the Builder...Can we fix it?...Bob the Builder...Yes we can!" I think this is where O'Bama got his slogan.

Jail

Over the last month, Isabel's mobility has significantly improved. It is rare that she is still laying down in her crib by the time we get into her room. A few mornings ago, she was especially proud of herself, as she was sitting up with both feet dangling out of the crib rails.

Isabel's Crawling

About a week ago, Isabel started crawling. While she started younger than Cooper did, she has not taken off as quickly as Cooper did when he learned to crawl. Isabel still likes to sit and play in one spot, but is really enjoying the freedom of being able to go get a toy out of her reach. This has definitely gotten Cooper's attention. He's already started to become much more possessive of "his" toys. While he's always been so gentle and loving with her, the tables are starting to turn. It is not rare for him to hit her on the head with a toy out of the blue, or to simply reach over and push her. Oh boy...here we go. Fortunately, these negative behaviors are not the majority, but I'm sure this is only the beginning. She's also started trying to pull herself up onto her feet. Fortunately, she's not able to yet, but I see lots of bumped heads in our near future. But for now, she's very content with her crawling. Here's a little clip from last week, though she's already much more efficient than in the video! Needless to say, this has already made her parent's lives a little more busy as we can no longer leave the room and expect her to stay in the same place!

Labor Day Weekend

ABCs

Copy Cat

The best part about having two kids is seeing them interact with each other!

Thank goodness for Thomas the Train!

We got Cooper a Thomas the Train toilet seat cover for the regular toilet and that seems to have sparked a new interest in trying this potty training thing. Still has yet to have any success, but it's a start! Also notice Cooper's hair cut. When Mommy was gone for the weekend, Daddy cut it. Mommy was sad to see the blond curls go, but he does look awfully cute, and very grown up!

Oh yeah, and the first picture he's in his new Handy Manny underwear. We are pulling out all the stops!

Summer Fun

Here are some miscellaneous summer pictures, mostly from August. That's feels like when our summer actually started. We finally had warm weather, and sun, and the bugs aren't too bad. We have gotten a lot of use out of our little pool in the back, and Cooper loves to go to his Great Uncle Robbie's house to swim there. He's doing really, really well swimming with his "floaties" on. He likes to get in and out on his own and swims around the whole pool. Isabel has been loving the water as well, no matter how cool the water is, she never lets out a whimper!

Thanks Grammy and Gramps!

This past weekend Grammy and Gramps came up to hang out with Cooper, Isabel and Josh while Mommy was playing with her friends in Miami! A good time was had by all!

Vacation in the Hamptons

These pictures are from our vacation a few weeks ago in the Hamptons with Josh's brother's family. We had a GREAT time both at the pool and the beach. It was great for Cooper and Isabel to get to play with their cousins Ryan and Jackson. Jackson was in love with Isabel and gave her plenty of hugs and kisses all week long. Cooper loved the water and did quite well with his "floaties" on. Once he got used to the sand in his feet, it was difficult to pull him off of the beach!