We celebrated Christmas a bit early with Nana, Boppa, Nana Peggy, Uncle Mick, Aunt Martha, Uncle Jack, and Gordon. Yesterday afternoon we went over to Nana and Boppa’s and had a wonderful time exchanging gifts with everyone. We were a bit overwhelmed with all of the presents (didn’t even have the chance to open all of them) and the girls nap times made our time together too short but it was wonderful to be together. Lilly had fun playing with new toys and directing people around and Robin, who was a bit sleep deprived, had plenty of smiles and laughs to share. We had a nice dinner and spent most of our evening organizing the gifts and making lists of what we were given. We were so thankful that everyone (except Jessica, who was missed) was able to celebrate early with us. Lilly says, “thank you, Santa Claus!”
For the complete set of photos, click here.
In keeping with the song, ‘All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth’, Robin got her Christmas wish early! She finally sprouted her first teeth today (the bottom two – one is more visible than the other). She woke and immediately put her tongue to work trying to figure out what was going on inside her mouth. She’s been working on those teeth for months so I’m glad they’ve finally made their appearance!
Perhaps it’s no coincidence at all that this past week has not been her best for sleep. Her morning nap has been much shorter and it’s harder to get her to go down for her afternoon nap. She’s going through that glorious period where she stands up in her crib but doesn’t have the coordination to sit down yet so she’ll cry until I go back in and lay her down. Fortunately we’ve been through this with Lilly so I know it will pass soon. Fingers crossed!
Both girls love dancing around the house to Christmas music. Robin gets so excited that she bounces up and down on your hip and cries with her arms in the air (a signal to pick her up) if you put her down. This morning we were singing ‘All I want for Christmas is you’ and Lilly immediately changed the lyrics to, ‘All I want for Christmas is PRESENTS’!! 🙂 Lilly knows the lyrics to several Christmas songs, her favorite being ‘Jingle Bells’.
Here’s a video of L singing her own version of Jingle Bells at lunch today.
Here’s a video of Robin showing off her new moves – one handed!
Lilly loves telling stories that begin, ‘once upon a time’. At school the kids sit in a circle and tell stories after nap time. Lilly’s stories often have to do with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, which is the only show she will watch on television. Here is a story that she told me today (with no prompting or interruptions): “Mommy, I’m gonna tell you a story. It goes, once upon a time, I went for a walk on the moon. It was a sunny day. It (the moon) had stripes, and polka dots, and horses, and lions. The end.”
At times she confuses ‘asking a question’ with ‘telling a story’. She’ll say, “I’m going to ask you a question” and then procede to tell a story or vice versa. She has quite the imagination!
Lilly is a real ball of energy, which is somewhat of a mystery considering she hardley eats anything :). Here is a video of what has become a regular post-dinner activity: being chased by Lilly around the house. She’s fast!
*You are not having a stroke, this video is sideways…which reminds me that we should be using the expensive video camera we bought instead of our iPhones!
This past week Robin has started pulling herself up to a standing position and is expressing herself much more with different syllables. When she’s angry she goes on these little rants and is just starting to say ‘Mama’ (only when she’s upset, of course). She is so curious now; she loves to crawl around and pull herself up on different objects to explore. I’ll put Robin down and check on her one minute later to find her pulling herself up on the couch and playing with a toy – another minute later she is sitting in front of the Christmas tree looking up – another minute later she is crawling furiously down the hallway chasing after the cat. So precious.
Here is a video of Robin’s ‘gibberish’ at dinner:
Meet Ciders, our friendly scout Elf. Santa sent him to our house this afternoon to watch over the girls until Christmas. He appeared on our Christmas tree along with a book, Elf on the Shelf, that tells his story. Each night while the girls are sleeping Ciders travels back to the North Pole to tell Santa Claus whether the girls have been naughty or nice as well as what toys they want for Christmas. The girls can talk to him but they cannot touch him, or else he will lose his magic powers. It took some work to get Lilly interested in the story but once she understood the concept she was very excited. Lilly promptly gave our Elf the name ‘Ciders’ (no idea where that came from) and is excited to see where he will re-appear in our house when he returns from the North Pole in the morning.
We have also started counting down the days until Christmas with an advent calendar and a paper chain that Lilly assembled. The Christmas anticipation begins!
Six weeks ago I started taking classes at Crossfit Bloomield and I am hooked! I was looking for a new wokout regimine after completing the half marathon so I could switch things up a bit for the Winter. An acquaintance from high school opened this branch of Crossfit and I had heard a lot about it before I signed up but I really had no idea what I was in for! It is bootcamp/athletic training at its best and I can’t believe how much stronger I feel after just 6 weeks. I was never an athlete growing up so this has been a real physical and emotional challenge for me but I feel on top of the world every time I complete the WOD (workout of the day). Right now I go twice a week while Lilly is at school and Aunt Martha and Aunt Terry help to watch Robin. I’m hoping to bring Bill along on weekends. A great place to check out!
Here is a video that explains a bit about the class:
Meanwhile Bill is in ‘pre-training’ for the Lake Stevens Half Ironman on July 15, 2012 – 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run. He swims in the early mornings in Salt Lake City during the week (still travelling there for work) and bikes and runs (we usually run together) on the weekends. He has the biking and running down pretty well and is taking private swim lessons at TWEAK in Birmingham on occasional weekends. 70.3!
Dear Robin,
Can you please stop trying to grow up so quickly? I cannot imagine you any more sweet than you are right now. I LOVE 7 months!!!
It’s hard to describe Robin at this stage because every moment with her is so special. She is ‘for real’ crawling (started doing the army crawl and getting around a month ago but the past few days she has been doing a real hands and knees crawl) and communicating with us more and more. We have to remind ourselves not to laugh at her little protests because even her whining is so darned cute! Robin always has the most adorable open-mouth smile. I can’t believe she is 7 months already but at the same time I’ve always felt like she is the most capable person I know. Is that strange? It probably has something to do with the fact that Lilly demands a lot of attention at this age but Robin is always content when she’s left alone to watch her surroundings but also loves attention. She’s so involved with the world around her now, it’s amazing to watch!
It took 7 months but both of Robin’s naps are getting longer (the morning nap has been about 1.5 hours for awhile now but her afternoon nap was always short until recently) and she is finally sleeping through the night (knock on wood – 7pm to 7:30am for about 1 week now)!!!
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