Fall Feast & Visitors...

This last week was my final week at home on maternity leave...and it was filled with lots of fun activities! The girls and I hit up our weekly library "Shake, Rattle & Read," we my dad in town for a few days, Mike's dad in town for a few days, and a few other fun activities. Was jam-packed with family time and it made my last week home very bitter-sweet. I spent lots of time cuddling the girls and holding them, not wanting the time to end. Anyway...here are a few pics:

Delaney is very strong, she always wants to be sitting up. If we put her on her back or in her car seat, she lifts her head up and tries to sit up. Much stronger than Izzy was at this age...maybe because her head isn't nearly as big :)

Playing with Grandpa Tom

On our way into the Cool Creek Nature Center

Izzy loved the turtles (you can see one in the background)

On the lookout for birds

Swinging!

Thursday was Izzy's pre-school Fall Feast where we celebrated the holiday with songs, dancing and lots of food. Was fun to see her in her glory!

Playing in the gym

Showing daddy how it's done

Grandma Anna & Delaney

Grandpa Tom with the girls

Grandpa reading to Izzy before bedtime. They brought her a Dora coloring book and Izzy wanted my dad to read it to her. Poor dad, he read the ENTIRE coloring book to Iz. Ha!

Ch-ch-ch-changes...

This last week has brought several changes in our house:

Laney Bug smiles and coos at us more than ever, as we've figured out her routine and my diet.
She's a HAPPY baby...who knew?!
Izzy is actually enjoying being WITH Delaney instead of just saying hi and kissing her all day.

This little girl got 3 inches cut off her hair from an amazing hair stylist named mommy.

Izzy actually shows Delaney how her toys work and even helps her accessorize.

Some intense potty training is going on in our house. Doesn't Mike look thrilled?!

And I got 5 inches cut off (from the back) of my hair. I figure I'm going back to work in another week, why not get a fresh cut, too?!

I took pics for JZF and to remember how much I love this cut!

Feels great not to have all that hair on my shoulders.

I told you we had a lot of changes going on around here!

**Oh yeah, and Delaney slept 11 hours UNINTERRUPTED last night!!! Fluke? Who cares! We slept!!!**

Weekend with cousin Steve

This past weekend we had a visit from Mike's cousin Steve and his new (to us) girlfriend Amanda. It was wonderful to finally meet Amanda and so nice to have Steve here for a visit. It had been quite a while since we'd seen them last (cousin Laura's wedding last Fall or Christmas?). Steve is really more like a brother to both of us than a cousin, so it was very comfortable to have him in the house with a 10 week old, colicky baby. They arrived Friday night and Izzy just had to stay up to see them! We stayed up VERY late Friday catching up and drinking. Was so much fun. Saturday we took a long walk in a new (to us) park that was so neat: on the river and through some very tall wild grass...and this park is just 2 minutes from our house! We loved discovering this new place and can see ourselves spending lots more time there. I'm sorry to say I forgot our camera, as we were too busy trying to get 4 adults and two kids (and strollers, diaper bag, et al) into our car. The adults and kids enjoyed the park so much, I don't want to tell anyone about it in fear that it becomes inundated like the Monon Trail is :) Selfish, yes.

Saturday night we shipped the girls off to Aunt GiGi's house (thank you SO much Jaime for taking our colicky baby off our hands for a few hours!!!) and enjoyed our very favorite sushi at Sakura. YUM. We enjoyed adult beverages and simply being out withOUT kids. Was such a treat. Jaime and I rely a lot on each other in times like this, as neither of us have family in town. We are each others' extended family. Anyway, we had a great time and are looking forward to seeing them at the holidays and then for the Mini Marathon in May!
Happy to be out sans bambinos!

Cousins

Izzy REALLY took to Steve - and he basked in it...playing non-stop with her and reading to her. L.O.V.E. He is going to make an amazing father one day.

And here's a quick picture of our Laney bug. She had a rough weekend. Partially my fault. With the visitors in town I splurged and added dairy back into my diet. Bad move. Delaney was colicky from 2pm on Saturday until 10pm that night. It was awful. Guess I learned my lesson! She is now feeling MUCH better now that dairy is out of my diet again and is an entirely new baby again. Sleeps well. Eats well. I think we'll keep her around.

Trick or Treat

Halloween day was a FUN one at our house. We did lots of practicing what we do when we get up to the door (knock, knock) and then how to say Trick or Treat and thank you. It paid off, as Izzy's treat basket was FULL by the end of the night!
Mike and the pumpkin, Delaney
Izzy the Tinkerbell and Luke the Cowboy

Delaney was watching everyone get dressed and ready to head out

This was the first house and the kids did wonderfully! Izzy was trying to start conversation with the family that opened the door, who were dying of laughter trying to decipher what she was saying to them. We had to tell her you just get the candy, say thank you and walk away...such the social butterfly she is.

So proud they accomplished their task

Walking in the COOOOOLD evening

Sometimes they got pulled along to the next house

Jaime and I were FREEZING. So we all called it a night and went home for a delicious pulled pork dinner with homemade mac-n-cheese and cole slaw. The kids stayed up until 9 - playing, wrestling and giggling. Was WAY past their bedtimes, but it is so stinking cute to watch them play! We had a great Halloween and are trying our best to hide the candy from Izzy (and ourselves!). Here's to a relaxing Sunday at home...

Halloween all week long

This week we started celebrating (dressing up) on Thursday for Halloween. Izzy's pre-school class had a Halloween party and Delaney had several Halloween outfits to wear, so we started early.

All dressed up at school and a little timid, but not for long.
Playing Pin the Spider on the Spider Web

Treat time with friends

Singing songs

She kept looking back to make sure her wings were still on

Brought the Bumbo out

Sisters

Outfit #2

And I finally caught one of Delaney's smiles on camera! She's been doing lots of cooing and smiling at us, which is so much fun!

Happy Birthday to our best buddy...

Happy 2nd Birthday to out best buddy, Luke!!! We dined with the Fellers tonight at Red Robin and had a great time celebrating Luke's 2 years in our lives. Here's to a lifetime more of fabulous birthdays...we love you, buddy!
Izzy loved the cookie cake. Girl doesn't miss a meal. Her chubby cheeks can prove it!

Trip to the Pediatrician

Friday we took a two hour long trip to the Pediatrician for Izzy's 2 year check-up and Delaney's 2 month check-up. Izzy was a star patient, as she was showing off all her tricks (downward dog, singing the ABC's, dancing, et al) and sat still for all the poking and prodding that comes with the check-ups. She is in picture perfect health:

Height: 32.5 inches 10-25%

Weight: 25.5 lbs 25-50%

Head: 48.5 cm 75-90%*

*Can you believe the girl can hold up her head with those percentiles?!*

The Pediatrician said this was the last time they'd be measuring her head, as the skull bones have 100% fused together by now. We were happy to hear this, as we KNOW her head is big on the charts...we're ready to move on :)

Other notable mentions, Izzy is now *going* potty on the big girl potty more than 3 times a day! Looks like we'll continue this training and get her in "big girl" undies in the next few days! Such a big girl. The above pic is what she wanted to wear on Saturday morning. I love that she had to accessorize the outfit with the bracelets. Like THAT'S what we're looking at :)

As for Delaney's check-up, we learned a great deal about her from this visit. We thought she had been battling a cold the last 2+ weeks, as she has some gurgly breathing and a cough. Turns out this gurgling is really food coming back up her throat and the cough is to try to clear the food from her throat. Poor girl. This is called "silent reflux" and we're now treating it with Pri.losec. Also, we learned that her irritable & fussy behavior all day long is due to the fact that she is TERRIBLY gassy. The doc listened to her belly and said there were LOTS of bubbles trapped in there. Poor girl. We now us Myl.econ before EVERY feeding and she is a brand new baby. Swear to you that she is 95% less fussy now. Mike and I are relieved and getting more rest just in the last 2 days...let's hope this lasts! On a down side, she has YET to take a bottle from either of us. We've tried numerous different brands and techniques, to no avail. I am getting nervous about returning to work, as the nanny will have a rough go at it to get her to take a bottle. If anyone has any tips, I'd love to hear them. Otherwise, she is in great health as well:

Height: 22 inches 25-50%

Weight: 10 lbs 9 oz 50%

Head: 39.25 cm 50%

Please note that Delaney's head is in the AVERAGE/NORMAL percentile. Phew.

Daddy & Delaney
This is what Delaney does very peacefully and effortlessly now: nap. We used to have to do all types of swaddling/shhhing/shaking to get her to sleep...now we just swaddle her and she is on her way to tucky town! Like I said, totally different baby.
And here is Izzy cheering on the Colts to another victory. In her words, "GO COLTS!"