Some Bebe Love

The last few posts have been all about Ruby, so I wanted to include some Bebe love from the last few weeks. Here she is, a little bit cuter and sweeter everyday.

Ruby Signs the Alphabet

This video is about two and half months old, but it's still great. One of her favorite TV shows is Signing Time, a PBS show that teaches kids about sign language.  It's now Beatrice's favorite show, too, and she's picked up a lot of signs (her favorite at the moment is "tree").

Ruby's Fourth Birthday

In what we hope is an annual thing for both of our kids, we interviewed Ruby on her fourth birthday to see what her life is like. I'm sure that we'll look back at this in fifteen years and cry.

Tea for Ruby

Ruby and I celebrated her fourth birthday today with a mother daughter tea date at the Four Seasons Hotel. She picked out her fanciest outfit, I painted her nails hot pink with rainbow sparkles, and she even wore a peacock feather in her hair.  We both declared that it was the fanciest she has ever looked, and celebrated with a fashion show in the front yard.

I have been looking forward to our high tea date for several months, and it was absolutely perfect. I plan to write down all the details in a letter to Ruby so that she can read it as an adult and know how special her fourth birthday celebration was to both of us. Some photos from our fancy afternoon:

Trick or Treat, Postal Style

A few days after Halloween last year, Ruby and I were talking about costume possibilities for the next year and she insisted that she was going to be a mailbox. Because she was only two at the time, I figured she'd change her mind about a dozen times before the big day approached again. But my girl stuck with the idea, and her creative Daddy made her the costume of her dreams. Because I know that my days of choosing coordinating costumes for the girls are limited, we worked Beatrice into the postal theme. Here they are, working the camera with the fabulous Kelly of Happy Soul Photography. 

Bolognese

Fall

Still nothing much to report here, other than our regular routine of coop, long walks at Lady Bird Lake, making dinner and hanging out with daddy in the evenings. Today was one of the first days of cooler weather that we've had this fall. We took full advantage of the cooler temps and spend the morning hanging out in the front yard. We also made these breakfast cookies- Beatrice was a fan, Ruby was not.

We're Still Here...

And still looking fabulous :)

Thanks to the FABULOUS Kelly of Happy Soul Photography for the amazing photographs of our family. We absolutely love them. 

Our summer vacation in Michigan

We were lucky enough to be able to spend a wonderful week in late August in Mears, Michigan.  Here's a video to commemorate the vacation.  Recommended in HD and full screen.

Beatrice's one year checkup

Beatrice is having her one year checkup today, and Emilia just called to tell me her height/weight percentages - i.e., how her height and weight compares to other one year olds. I normally wouldn't post something as mundane as this, but I figured it's worth sharing.

Beatrice is in the 85th percentile for height - and the 7th percentile for weight. Skinny, tall, and beautiful.

The Birthday Girl

Today is my baby girl's first birthday. She has only been with us for 365 days, yet I can't remember daily life before she was a part of it.  I've been teary and sentimental all morning- holding her, dancing with her, watching her chest rise and fall as she sleeps in my lap. I'm not sure exactly why I'm feeling so emotional about today, but I'm sure a big part of it is knowing that my last baby is a toddler now and growing more independent everyday.

Happy Birthday, Beatrice Lolly. You are the sweetest and most gentle soul I have ever met. I was so worried about how you would fit into our family of three, mostly because of your big sister's bold and energetic personality. But you have found just the right little niche for yourself.  I love your long hugs when I take you out of your crib in the morning. I love your sweet, unsolicited kisses for Dada, your quiet giggles when nursing, and your shrieks of laughter when playing with your sister.  I love how your eyes light up when you are excited and how people stop us daily to comment on their beautiful blue color. I pretty much love everything about you. I'm so excited to see what your future holds for you. Thank you for choosing me to be your momma and sharing your love with our family the last year.

Miss Beatrice Lolly

It's been awhile since I've just taken out the camera while hanging out at home. I did this week and got some cute shots of Miss Bebe. I'm so in love with her.

Happy kiddos!

Ninja Ruby; confused Bebe

Beatrice will NOT ...

... sleep in your pack-and-play.  Instead, she will provide comic relief, which fortunately makes it less frustrating when Emilia's trying to put her to sleep while on vacation.

Ruby's First Gallery Show

In addition to making (endless) videos of herself, Ruby also enjoys using our phones' cameras to take pictures.  As an experiment, I tasked Ruby with taking photos of anything she found interesting.  Here is the result:

Ruby, the big girl

My super smart big girl just counted to 100 all by herself. I'm so proud of her that I wanted to document it on our blog. Last week, she read a favorite book to David, pointing to each individual word as she went. Seeing how proud she was of herself literally brought tears to my eyes. Ruby amazes me daily with her desire to learn new things- I hope she never loses that.

Happy 4th of July

From our patriotic progeny.  Pictures from this morning's neighborhood parade and picnic.

My daughters

Are hilarious.