samesies

dottie showed up at school the other day and her friend sydney was dressed almost exactly the same as she was. they were just tickled over it and giggled like crazy when they looked at each other...

olallieberry picking

a few weeks ago we headed south of the city to go olallieberry picking. it was a little further south than planned but it well worth it we ended with a nice lunch (and a well deserved beer!) in half moon bay with kim and her family. the kids were very into picking berries and we went home with way more than we could handle. had i planned, i might have made a pie or jam like kevin, jim, and bruce. next time!

jane gets the award for the most olalliebierries consumed, and dottie for the least. dottie tried 1 and decided she didn't like them and never ate another one. esther enjoyed them too as you can see from the last picture in our house the next day.

to see more pictures from our berry picking, CLICK HERE



dottie, frannie, and kevin


jane before she was absolutely dripping in berry juice


dottie and esther

"dada"

i have been a little in to posting short videos lately because it's just amazing how many new things esther has been doing lately. 9 months truly is a wonderful age! chuck has been pretty excited lately because esther says "dada" when he walks into a room...
(i promise we won't post a new video for every new word she learns :-)

dot's first manicure

on the way home from school today i promised dottie we would pop into a nail salon to have her nails done (her first time getting them done at a salon). she was so excited and planned which colors she would select ahead of time. pink on one hand and green on the other. she was over the moon when we left the salon and kept on saying, "i am so happy, i am so happy, i am so happy..." over and over again. amazing what joy a $3 manicure could bring to a 3 1/2 year old girl!



and the finished product:

a scoot and a shimmy

maybe not as efficient as crawling but it does the trick...





anytime we put music on, esther does this cute little "shimmy"...

the linden family

lily (8) and andrew (almost 4), cabin camping, foils dinners, s'mores, 3 ticks (2 on chuck and 1 found on dottie's head), a VERY long hike to the beach, a skunk, santa cruz, huge donuts, big beers, face painting, a log flume ride, the monterey bay aquarium, hammerhead sharks, jellyfish, did i mention lily and andrew?.......................................................

this past week the linden family (dave, julie, lily, and andrew) came for a visit from rochester, minnesota via L.A.. the linden's are long long long time family friends of the mortimore's and "uncle dave" was the best man in our wedding. we honestly had the most fun and jam packed as much as we possibly could into 3 days. we decided to do a little "camping" (in cabins at costanoa) because chuck and dave grew up camping every labor day and memorial day. it worked out so perfectly and the kids had so much fun that dottie has been asking every day since they left if she will get to play with andrew and lily. we miss you linden's!!!!

to see even more photos click HERE

hamming it up...

and a kiss! not the greatest pictures but fun. the girls were hamming it up with each other after esther's nap today and couldn't stop giggling while they stuck their tongues out and made silly noises. it's really cool to see a fun relationship already developing between the two of them. sisters!

Esther at 9 months

esther is officially 9 months old and we honestly can't believe it! people told us it would go fast with the second baby but we didn't realize just how fast it would be. it's really crazy that in less than 3 months, she will already be 1. things started out a little rocky with some extreme fussiness but she has ended up being an incredibly easy and delightful baby! she is easy on the go and will hang out in her stroller with a toy and does the same at home with a blanket and a bunch of toys. she is happiest when she is able to watch anything and everything dottie is doing (and dottie loves it too!) and she has the most adorable little laugh that is contagious and sometimes has us all laughing together just hearing it.

9 MONTH CHECK UP
weight: 16 pounds (10th percentile)
head: 44.7 cm (75th percentile)
height: 26.5" (25th percentile)

esther is a bit of a pipsqueak! at nine months, she is still in 6 month clothing which is wild for us after having dottie who started off so big. of course, taking after her mom and dad (and big sister), she has a pretty big head in comparison to everything else.

COMMUNICATION
from birth, esther has loved babbling and talking to herself. she makes all kinds of cute (and mostly loud) noises that sound like she is really testing the waters on language. she can say "mama" very clearly and says words that sound like and we interpret to be "bye bye", "dot", "dada", and "hi". when she gets excited, she coos or screams with excitement and waves her arms and legs all over the place. she waves, claps, and just recently started pointing at things.

PHYSICAL
esther can pull herself up on her knees easily while holding onto something and just today managed to pull herself up to a standing position. she is still not crawling but manages to get from one place to another without any issues by scooting or pivoting on her bum or army crawling on her belly. very fun to watch...

FOOD
esther never took to pureed foods. in fact, it was down right painful feeding her when she started at 6 months because she just didn't want to be fed from a spoon no matter what she was given. she just closed her mouth and wouldn't allow anything in. we decided to just start giving her finger foods which totally worked and now she pretty much self feeds herself everything (except yogurt!). she loves cheese, spaghetti and meatballs, noodles, avocado, black beans, pretty much any fruit, cheerios of course ... we just cut every thing into pretty small pieces and she picks it up and pops it into her mouth. when she is done, she is done and won't eat anything more. a very stubborn and decisive girl and has been from the get go! because of self feeding herself, her pincher skills have gotten really good and she is able to pick up even the tiniest pieces of food on her tray and pop them right into her mouth.

SLEEP
she goes to sleep at around 7:30 every night, wakes at 3:45 almost to the minute to eat, then wakes for the morning at around 7:30 to 8:00. we are still okay with the 3:45 wake up right now because she is such a pipsqueak that an extra feeding is welcome! she transitioned from 3 naps a day to 2 naps a day about 2 months ago. both of her naps last about 1.5 to 2.5 hours each, just depends on the day. as i wrote before, we worked with a sleep trainer when she was about 14 weeks old and has gone down very easily since then. she eats, gets a big hug, and then is put into her crib while she is still awake. usually she babbles for about 5 minutes and then falls asleep. for the past 2 weeks or so, has preferred being put down by me at night sometimes cries for about 30 seconds when i walk out of the room. we have chalked this up to her getting a little more social and wanting to perhaps stay up and see the action! she still sleeps with her two fingers in her mouth and mainly sleeps on her side or her belly.

NICKNAMES
the only nickname that has stuck is "pants". it started with "fussypants" when she was such a fuss bucket and i dropped the "fussy" when she turned the sweet corner. (seems a little like "blanket" jackson i know...:-) we are assuming this name will not stay with her!

TEETH
still still only has 1 on the bottom!

FOUND!!!

dottie and piggy were reunited at lowe's this morning! he was found halfway under a pillow on the outdoor furniture that we sat down on to test and he hadn't moved since. we were thinking the worst after a call to lowe's this morning turned up nothing but got the best! phew...

poor piggy

today on a visit to lowe's, dottie's dear sweet piggy went missing. she went to bed with a temporary piggy this evening only on the condition that she is going to wake up and go to lowe's with her daddy at 7:00 a.m. sharp tomorrow morning. if piggy is lost forever, this is going to be a very long and sad week! he has been with her for 3 years and she honestly hasn't taken a nap or slept a night without him. piggy, if you are out there, we are coming to get you and bring you home...

4th of july

in golden gate park

for more pictures, click HERE









dottie was so pooped after the picnic that this is how she fell asleep on the couch...

the leonards

luke, laura, and leif (2) came to sf for a visit from minneapolis a couple of weeks ago and dottie is still talking about the fun she had with leif and chuck is still talking about the pain he is feeling from skateboarding with luke. we had a great time seeing them all and even got a babysitter one night while we all went out without kids to enjoy a night in the mission. sadly for some reason or another we didn't get too many great pictures.

how cute it little leif? and odis and b's new puppy walter....