Marley's Birthday Fun

The babies turned 9 months old this weekend and celebrated with a busy day! We went to Little Gym in the morning, and then went to the park for Marley's first birthday party. It was 80 degrees and sunny here today, so it was great to be outside. Our day was filled with so much fun. The babies:

* sat in the middle of the parachute while all the parents shook it
* got to eat some real food...our first bites of turkey and blueberries... and frosting of course(although not the first for that one!)
* saw bubbles
* played on the siwngs
* concurred their fear of grass (guess who!?!)
* ate some leaves
* ate some grass
* fought over puffs
* pulled their hats off a million times
* sported our cool sunglasses
* showed off how we sign "more" for puffs (only Laney, but D is close)
* laughed
* played with babylegs by doing "Up...and down" with them over her head... a million times. Apparently this is a really fun game.
* climbed on the stroller
* chatted with friends, older and younger than us
* squealed loud enough for the whole park to hear us (guess who!?!)
* crashed when we got home!

Thanks Marley, We had a great day!

Milk Shmilk

This seems to be Laney's attitude toward milk these days. Starting Thanksgiving week Laney stopped finishing her bottles. She drinks about 3 ounces and then plays with the bottle for 10 minutes, occasionally taking a swig. I clean up a puddle of milk 4 times a day. This was her last night and this morning. I could get some variation of this picture at every feeding! She has always shown a preference for solid food, and is a GREAT eater with any real food I give her, so I am not concerned... maybe she's just trying to get rid of some of the rolls!

And Dellan is always more than willing to finish off any of Laney's leftovers!

A handful

is what my son is these days. He is everywhere and into everything. I have picked up everything (including vases, flowers, recycling bin, kitchen rugs, etc) in hopes of baby proofing downs stairs for D to crawl around. This morning he discovered the spiral door stopper and was entertained for awhile. A few minutes later I noticed something in his mouth... it was the end of the doorstop. Ay yi yi. You always miss something. Later, while picking up some cleaning supplies at the grocery store, I gave D the box of swiffer dusters to hold. Serioulsy less than a minute later he had green cardboard all over his face! My job suddenly got a lot harder...

Socks!

It is absolutely impossible for my children to keep socks on their feet, especially Laney. They seem to slide right off... Grammie thinks this is because of her cankles and tiny feet, but today I watched her do this, which could also be the culprit.

Our best Bud

Elyse and Isaac (and his grandma) came over for a playdate today. He loves to be on his stomach and encouraged Laney to do the same (for a few minutes anyway). While Laney was sitting up playing with toys Isaac discovered the "balls" on her dress and couldn't get enough of them! After that she noticed them too. This should be an interesting outfit now! We love our dear friends Matt and Elyse and can't wait for all the fun playdates I know are in our future :0)

Maggie

I have my very own Maggie Simpson. Laney is seriously obsessed with binkies these days. She often falls asleep with a binkie in her mouth and several others cuddled up around her face. When Tony got her out of bed in the morning, she smiled and squeeled her "happy to see you" and then quickly grabbed her binkie out of her bed and popped it in her mouth (mid air) as Tony was lifting her out of her crib... just in case there wouldn't be one downstairs! (We have what seems like hundreds of binkies in this house, and the car, and the stroller, and the beds, and the carseats). She has even taken her love for binkies to a higher level than a love for food. When offering her a Puff (she had a binkie in her other hand, she grabbed the puff, stared at the bink, stared at the Puff, the bink, the puff... paused... and decided on the bink. So funny. She will hold puffs forever but not spit the binkie out to actually eat them. Tonight I looked over while we were all playing to see her above. Yes, 3 binkies instead of all the other fun toys we have to play with.

Can you see the resemblence? Hair that sticks straight up, binkie in mouth, fat rolls through clothes, bow in hair. She should have been named Maggie.

No Hands? No Problem!

Apparently this is how you solve the problem of holding toys while your hands are occupied crawling and playing. This happens all day long. He will grab a toy and quickly stick it right in his mouth and continue on his way...

(and yes, this is a measuring cup)