puzzles and games

dottie has been very into playing games and putting together puzzles lately. she received a cool dollhouse floor puzzle for christmas from santa that she has loved and then got a farm floor puzzle from her friend isa by the same company for her birthday which she is now very into. the first couple of times, we had to help her put it together but now she can do it on her own, talking her way through why this puzzle piece fits there and so on. it's amazing how much she has grown up lately!

she is also loving candyland, matching games, go fish, kiddie dominos,... the main issue with any of them of course is that she wants to win every time and gets upset when she doesn't. she is her mother's child!

hi!

esther has really come a long way in the past month or so. she has been rolling here and there from front to back and back to front but it's really never consistent. when we put her down and assume she will do it, she just sits there sucking her fingers and then we turn our backs and she has flopped over. she has also become much more interested in toys...grabbing, shaking, rattling, sucking, things... she sits up in her excersaucer and can move her body around from one little toy on it to the next which she really wasn't interested in doing even 4 a week ago. she is absolutely fascinated by dottie and completely lights up when she sees her, watching her every move. it's really hard to believe that she is the same baby she was even 2 months ago when she was so fussy. enjoying each and every minute of it!

goodbye parents, hello rainbow ribbon!

as of dottie's 3rd birthday, dottie has moved on to a swim class that doesn't include parents being in the water with their kids! chuck is a little sad i think but looks forward to esther starting up. she is now with 3 other kids and "teacher meagan". she made the transition without any issues at all and got her next ribbon, the rainbow ribbon, right away! next up, the blue ribbon... sadly, now that she received 2 ribbons pretty close together, she assumes she is going to get a ribbon at every class. when i went over to pick her up at the side of the pool this past week, the first thing she said was, "but i didn't get my blue ribbon". i am thinking it might be awhile. to see what one must do to receive a ribbon, click HERE. she received her first 2 ribbons in reverse order because she wasn't able to receive the rainbow ribbon until she was in a class on her own.

swinging

esther on the playground swing for the second time so far in her life of just about 5 months. she is much more able to sit in the swing without slouching over so she is able to really enjoy it. the higher i pushed her, the more she smiled!

better than a thumb?

esther has decided to go with 2 fingers instead of a thumb or a binky for that matter. she goes for them on both hands and sometimes enjoys them so much that she has been known to gag herself with them. silly esther!

fishing for milo beasts...

what's even more funny is watching dottie watch this video of herself. she is laughing hysterically at herself laughing hysterically!

dress up!

grandma cam heard a rumor that dottie is WAY into dress up lately so she pulled out her new sewing machine and made these amazing dresses for dottie, matching headbands and all! thank you so much grandma cam, dottie is in heaven!!!! (dottie insisted on wearing the pink heals with every outfit. dream on suri!)











the scuff on her nose is from a minor incident where she and her buddy sam took each other down while running down the sidewalk...

who's who?

there are lots of good things about having 2 girls. one of the best........having them share a wardrobe! they are definitely related wouldn't you say?

the mall

since tuesday, it has been awfully rainy around here. we were getting used to 68 degrees in february! today, after 4 days of rain, rain, rain, and more rain, we ended up meeting up at the serramonte mall with penny, pam (penny's mom aka "gigi"), wyatt, and malcolm. the toy aisle at target, panda express, a mall pet shop (i honestly hadn't been to that kind of a pet shop in at least 20 years) to view puppies and pythons, H & M, a mall koi pond, and many trips to the potty made it a perfect rainy friday. you can tell just how excited esther about the koi in the last picture... the only thing that might have topped the day is a visit to forever 21!

happy valentine's day!

xoxo,
esther

(cute shirt available HERE. shameless shelf promotion of dutch door press!)

we survived!

chuck comes home tomorrow! 6 days and 7 nights and we survived though it makes me realize just how nice it is to have 2 of us for 2 of them.

sadly, i didn't take really any pictures while he was gone until this one last night (he took the nice camera with him...).
sonia and erin were kind enough to come by with pizza and dottie's fav, mint chip on friday (yum!) and allie and pooja came by for dinner and a movie last night. we also had lots of fun with friends in the neighborhood!

tuesday evenings

most tuesdays, we walk home from dottie's school with her buddy sam, his brother william, and their mom anne. dottie really looks forward to these walks home together and usually dottie and sam hold hands and discuss important issues (like thomas the tank engine dvd's, etc) on the way home. here are some pictures from our walk home this week...

dottie has owned those red cowboy boots since her second birthday and hasn't ever wanted to wear them even when i strongly suggest them. for some reason this week, they are the only shoes she has wanted to wear. she also has a little cowgirl dance she does in them that i will try to get on video.
(they were taken with my iphone so the pictures aren't great)

happiness is...

sunshine and blue skies!
we have been having unseasonably sunny and warm weather in san francisco for the past several weeks. we are loving every minute of it and have been spending tons of time outside.

helmet heads

dotties buddies on wednesdays for the past several of weeks, carter and rosa.

we got together last week and though they didn't scoot much on their scooters, they for some reason kept their helmets on almost the entire playdate. silly kids!

san diego

this past weekend was my first time away from the girls since esther was born! i was in san diego for 3 days attending the wedding of a best friend from home, lara, with my friend sarah, another dear friend who i have know since i was 10. lara and steve's wedding was gorgeous and a ton of fun! i was gone for 3 days we had a blast but i must say, it felt so great to get home and see everyone waiting for me in the car at the airport. chuck survived with no problem at all and the house was clean and our beds were even made when i got home. way to go superdad!!!

starting today, chuck is on his annual snowboarding trip up in nelson, british columbia for 6 days! we'll see if i survive while he is gone. have fun chuck! pictures of his trip coming soon...

Go Pack Go!

It's not too difficult to brainwash a 3 year into rooting for Daddy's team ( the packers ) instead of Mommy's team ( the steelers ) You just need to explain it to them in their terms:

The Packers are called that because they love to pack their backpacks....just like Dora.

The Steelers are called that because the love to steal...just like Swiper the Fox.

With that simple logic, I have an instant Packers fan!

the girls

things have been a little crazy around here with Mara out of town for the weekend...



...fortunately, everyone is sleeping well...

jokes

dottie trying to figure out knock knock jokes...her future in stand-up comedy may be limited.

perhaps she should stick to slapstick...

esther at 4 months

esther turned 4 months old today and the time is officially flying by!
at 4 months old, she is quite the gabber. she is usually making some noise or another and has taken up with gurgling and doing a kind of sing songy thing as of late. honestly, we can't stop taking movies of it because it's so funny! after the hump of about 3 1/2 months, she has turned into a very happy baby and is a complete joy to be around.

when esther is tired, she is tired and needs to get to bed fast or she kind of erupts. she goes to bed at 7:00 and is now falling asleep perfectly on her own which is a huge relief! she still wakes up at 3:30 or so in the middle of the night to eat and then again at around 6:30 or 7:00 for the day. she takes 3 naps a day and those are getting better by the day as well with at least 2 of them being 1.25-2 hours or so and the last one being a bit more of a catnap.

she tries her hardest to roll but hasn't done it yet. most of the time, she gets sidetracked in the moment (typically meaning that she ends up sucking on her hand or something around her).

when people see her, they often times comment on her cheeks and how chubby they are. though she is not a really big/heavy baby, she certainly carries a lot of and chub she has in her cute little cheeks.