Santa visit, Five months

Dear Maya and Emi,

Well, the countdown is on to Christmas Day. We've been putting a new ornament on our cute little advent calendar tree each day since the beginning of the month and for the 12 days of Christmas we've been reading a different holiday book each night, too. Lots of spirit in the house!

Last weekend we went for our visit with Santa. Emi, in order to meet your naptime needs we went earlier in the day than usual, right when Santa arrived, and for the first time we had to wait in line. Maya, you were shy but at least you talked to him a little. You asked for shiny stickers for Christmas. Somehow Santa ended up promising you a stuffed dinosaur and a pink teddy bear for you, Emi. We'll see if he remembers when the big day comes along...

This week mommy has had some appointments so daddy's work schedule has been shuffled around. Since that makes it hard to coordinate your sleeping/eating schedule, Emi, poor Maya has been stuck in the house a lot. We did manage a trip to a kid playland over the weekend and a play date with Wyatt late in the day yesterday, though. And since it gets dark so early these days we got to see lots of Christmas lights on our way home from the latter.

Sorry for the quality of these 3 pics, but at least I got my phone to upload again!!

Emi, yesterday you turned 5 months old. Where has the time gone? You are all gummy smiles and throaty laughs these days. Whenever mommy looks at your face in profile I can't help but comment on your, um, generous eyebrows--not that I'm surprised given your parents. Your new favorite hobby is playing with your feet. Maya has started playing with you in new and different ways, too, like having tea parties with you, or picking you up when mommy's not looking. Ugh.

 

 

Well, time for mommy to relax. Love you both!

First play, first tree

Dear Maya and Emi,

Mommy's just going to put up some quick pics with captions tonight, and only those from my camera, not my phone. Why, you ask? Because mommy just threw the phone out into the snow! Just kidding, but it might happen if I can't get it to upload my photos soon. Fortunately all the best photos of the week are from my camera. I guess that's always the case but sometimes mommy just isn't able to take the camera along so it's nice to have the phone--when it works, anyways!

• Maya, you went to your first play--a live version of A Charlie Brown Christmas

• Emi, you went to cut down your first tree! You were cold but toughed it out.

You resemble me more in this picture than any before! Thank you, sweet baby!

• Maya, you decorated the tree, umm...'creatively' but then we 'adjusted' it after you went to bed

• Emi, you're a good sport--even when Maya rolled on you the other day...and dressed you up.

Well, mommy's going back to battle with the phone. Love you both!

Cozy Thanksgiving, Winter Wonderland

Dear Maya and Emi,

Mommy has lots of pretty pictures to share tonight, but not much energy to put a lot of words down here. In short, the weather outside's been frightful, but playing with you two has been delightful. And, oh yeah, Thanksgiving happened, too. Here are some highlights from the week:

• Emi, you've not been too fond of baths, but finally seemed to enjoy this one!

• Also, Emi, you've gone back and forth between being very agreeable/sleeping close to 11 hours one night, to being so cranky/waking so often some other nights that we wondered if you were teething. Yesterday afternoon while you were being fussy, mommy kept Maya busy decorating a gingerbread house we'd received. No time to make icing? Peanut butter'll do. No Christmassy candies on hand? A box of Jelly Bellies, the very last thing left from Halloween, to the rescue!

• We had a doozy of a snowstorm the day before Thanksgiving. Maya, you had such a blast!

• Maya, mommy got this semi-vintage leafy outfit at a consignment sale for you for Thanksgiving, then Auntie Charlotte handed down this matching shirt for you, Emi! Yay!

• Maya, the snow was still on the branches the day after Thanksgiving but it wasn't too cold so you and mommy scouted out some locales for mommy to take photos. Holy moly, was it beautiful at the rail trail!

• And on Sunday we exchanged family photo shoots in the park. Mommy will share the other photographer's pics when I have the full resolution versions, but in the meantime, here are a few that daddy and I took

Well, time for bed. Love you two!