Awesome pictures

LD and Joey came over on Saturday and stayed pretty much all afternoon and we went to dinner! What a great day. For a long time, Joey and Asher played marble run. Joey built some huge runs with Asher's help and Asher did some fantastic dancing and running around.

And later, Joey and Chiara played and played.

Look, Annie wanted to get in on the Joey/Chiara snuggles.

We have a picture of Asher & Joey from about this age. I'll have to see if I can find it and post them both. Today is Blogging for LGBT Families day. Please participate by posting a blog of your own or going to this site and reading some of the blogs you see listed.

Five months

Chiara is five months old today. That seems totally unbelievable to me. It is going by so fast I just can't believe it. And I have the feeling she's going to stand up one day and walk and run before I'm even moderately ready for it. I'm not going to post any pictures because, well... she has a rather extensive case of heat rash and it doesn't make for a pretty picture. As soon as her skin is back to normal, I'll post extra. Sound good?

In the meantime, what does she do?

Rolls front-to-back sparingly
Rolls back-to-front prodigiously
Spits up more prodigiously
Sits unassisted for long periods of time
Interlocks her fingers
Laughs
Smiles
Giggles
Grabs hair (ouch or so I hear from people with enough hair to grab)
Knocks over blocks
Grabs puzzle pieces, foam letters, and flash cards and tries to jam them in her mouth (yes, we've moved Asher's toys to his room)
Pushes to stand assisted
Looks very cute
Snuggles warmly
Probably lots of other stuff I can't remember

Patience

Asher and I were outside playing. He's been very into Dreamgirls again and now seems to really know the lyrics to most of the songs. Anyway, he was driving around this tractor and picking up groceries from the store (a whole new and very amusing game) and I caught him singing Patience.

Tricks and smiles

First off: Chiara rolled over front-to-back today. I saw it. Rachel said she did it yesterday too and called me at work but today she did it totally easy. Quite impressive!

But dig how cute this swim suit and her interlocking her hands is:

How cute are these pigtails?
And Rachel has a funny face but I figure two out of three is good enough for me.

At dinner

First swimming expedition of the year

Here are two pictures from the first swimming expedition of the year. Rachel took the kids swimming while I was at work and I stopped on my way home to say hi and watch and take a few pictures on my phone. They had a great time!

We continue to have gorgeous pictures of the kids. Last night, as I was laying (or is it lying?) down with Asher, he was telling me a story (yes, he's supposed to be still and quiet but it wasn't a long story) and I was watching him and wondering, "Do children have an comprehension of how much we love them? Can they?" I felt filled with the enormity of love I have for both kids and that was better than any amount of being still and quiet.

Chiara modeling the latest in towel and hair fashion:


"See, I am a great sitter-uper. " (If you think her sitting up is great, you should see her spitting up but we don't usually take pictures of that).

Rachel and Lisa Diane put together the exersaucer after we washed the seat. Chiara thought it was great right away. It took her a few minutes to figure out how to spin around in the seat but she's all about it.
And this is her "I'm teething the bottom teeth" look. It's not the greatest, but it's pretty funny.

Sitting, playing, knocking blocks.

I've been trying to get video to prove how well Chiara sits up for weeks. Literally, weeks. Of course in that time, her sitting has gotten better and better. Well today was the prime opportunity as she had a few firsts. Today was her first time knocking down block towers and the first time she and Asher really played together. He would build her a tower and she would knock it down and laugh.

"Hey, a block!"



How's that for a great smile?


She's just knocked down all those blocks.


And here's a video where you can see her not only sitting but knocking down blocks twice.

And finally, people always ask me, "Why aren't there more pictures of you on the blog?" Well, I think the picture below shows that in addition to taking most of the pictures, I also have other important duties to attend. Oh, and I got this round block with two more and the duck balanced at one point but we didn't get a picture of it.

Friday pictures

Asher playing with his calendar.

Chiara, the cutie...

If you look closely, you'll see that there is color on the pineapple piece.

Swinging in the Swing

I took this picture Tuesday on my phone and sent it to Google about 6:00 in the evening. It arrived Thursday which is a bit strange. But look what a good picture it is.

Growing, growing, growing...

Chiara is growing and growing. I guess Asher is as well but it's harder to tell with him. We took her to her four month check-up last month and everything was just fine. She's 25 inches (I think, I'm not looking at the sheet), 15 lb, 9.5 oz and her head is round although I can't recall the size. Our pediatrician always says that they can be on any growth curve they want but they're on a curve. I was hoping to find a cute widget that would graph out her growth but when I searched for growth charts, I found the curves but not that you could insert the growth points. It's probably overkill regardless.

Her recent tricks include: sitting up for 10 or more seconds before falling forward or to the side, easily and artfully rolling from her back to her front, grabbing toys, meowing, and fitting her entire hand in her mouth. And then there are the enduring tricks of projectile milk... well, projection and looking extremely cute.


She looks a little like she's asking a question here I think. I wonder what it is.




Here are two super cute pictures of Chiara sleeping in her mama's lap.

Here are three photos to show her hair and this crazy outfit. Bright colors and flowers. I don't think there are any parrots on this one but they would have fit right in.

And of course, snuggles with her brother.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to everyone. We had a very good Mother's day. By mutual agreement, our gift giving and celebrating was limited. Rachel got me some kitchen stuff (hand mixer, new can opener, etc.) and a small plant to take to work. I got her a necklace charm with all our names on it and a pancake puff pan. It was kind of a joke because the commercials used to always be on during Endurance Kids and kind of because I thought she would like it. (Oh, I shouldn't take credit, the pancake puff pan was from the kids).

So as you can see, we got up and Rachel made us pancake puffs. Asher ate plain ones with powdered sugar and we ate ones with Strawberry simply fruit, agave & pecans, or agave & almonds. All were good but the pecan were the best.

We went out for Indian food for lunch and to the local library to get cards and check out books. Then we had collard green, spinach, and potato quiche (mmm) with baked vegetables for dinner. Rachel also made whole wheat pizza dough for later in the week.

And now we're about to watch the Survivor finale (go Cirie!!! or go Amanda!!).

Congratulations to our neighbors the Moyners on expanding their family. We've loved meeting Jay and Kyra and look forward to seeing them grow and to seeing your beautiful family.

Finally, I can't believe this is five mother's days without my mom here. I miss her most days but especially all this week. Five years. Seems like yesterday but it's not. Again this year I made a donation to the Capitol Area Food Bank in mom's memory. I miss my Grandfather today as well. Even before we ever had kids, my Grandpa Joe sent us each a mother's day card every year. I miss them both more than I have words.

Farm Pictures Part Two

Here are some more pictures from our trip to the farm. First is a picture of Grandma and Asher reading one of his favorite books. This is Abercrombie. Asher really loved him and played number cards with him for a while. I had another picture but I accidentally deleted it from the blog.

Chiara learned to play 42 this weekend. She was quite a helper and didn't try to eat the dominoes (much).
And here are a few pictures of Asher and Granddaddy playing number cards.

Thanks Mom Campaign - National Marrow Donor Program

First off, thanks to my friend Watty who hipped me to this.

From May, 5 to May, 19, the National Marrow Donor Program is having a awareness and recruitment campaign. The first 46,000 people who join the registry including 10,000 who join online (you will be sent a kit in the mail) can do so for free. Usually there is a fee for joining the registry. The website has information on joining, the need for registered bone marrow donors, and FAQs. The Austin and Round Rock locations (see the link to the right) are also participating in this drive.

I joined the registry years ago. I happened to be at the center to donate blood when they told me that if I did aperethesis (I doubt that's spelled correctly), I could join the registry without having to pay the fee so I did. I've never been contacted but I certainly could be in the next 21 years.

If it appeals to you and you wish to be on the registry, please take this opportunity to join.

Farm Pictures Part One

We got home from a really good farm trip yesterday. It was Chiara's first time there and she of course, had a wonderful time. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the computer to upload some of the photos or blogger to upload them or something... I was having enough trouble that I just decided to split the post into two parts. The second will be up in the next few days when I have a chance to choose pictures and upload them successfully. In the meantime, here are a few pictures.

Isn't this a great picture of Chiara and Grandma? We have a picture of Asher at a similar age wearing that onsie and playing with Andrea at the farm.
Asher of course got to ride his horse, April (or big April as you may want to call her given that she's quite a bit bigger than the April he plays with and sleeps with). He took a pretty spectacular tumble which I didn't get a picture of but he didn't hesitate to get right back on.

And he was happy to have his sister on April as well. In case you're wondering, Rachel is holding Chiara with her right hand: she's not just letting Asher hold his sister, much as he would like that.

And here's a cute picture of Chiara. I was trying to get a picture of Asher petting and hugging and kissing the brand-new horse (born Wednesday I think) but I couldn't get an angle. But cuttie-pie Chiara turned around to look for the camera.

Impressed

I continue to be impressed and surprised by Asher. We are at the farm which means that when we get home I'll upload and post lots of pictures of Grandma, Granddaddy, and Andrea with the kids and us. Perhaps some horses, goats, guineas, etc. too.

We drove up yesterday and as we were getting close and Asher was asking how much farther and if we'd seen Andrea's house yet, I said, "no. I haven't seen her house. I've only seen one Elephant." Then I added, "I've only seen one Elephant and Two Giraffes." Rachel added "One Elephant, Two Giraffes, and three Guinea Pigs." We asked Ash if he wanted to play when we got to five and he not only jumped in to add on five trees but was able to continue to play through 16 whatevers. He is still remembering today and wanted to throw the Frisbee to all the things we saw. I've already forgotten and he remembers!

Yep, on our drive we saw:
One elephant
Two giraffes
Three guinea pigs
Four butterflies
Five trees
Six penguins
Seven dolphins
Eight horses
Nine bales of hay
Ten unicycles
Eleven persons
Twelve bumblebees
Thirteen windmills
Fourteen doggies
Fifteen farms
Sixteen goats

Just to reiterate, while typing this I couldn't remember past unicycles but Asher told me the rest.