Professional Photos

Look at these! Aren't they great? We've been using Lollipop Photography since Amelie turned one. I'm really glad that she'll be taking Leah's baby pictures (we'll get them made again at 6 months and then at one year).

Family photo:

Notice that Leah had to change outfits already! Ha! I should have put her in a bib.

Leah looks a little suspicious:

Amelie is 7. I'd picked out more of a play dress for her, but she really wanted to wear this one instead. She also really did not want me to put her hair up in a bow. She's got opinions, that's for sure.

She's already had 7 teeth fall out - I wouldn't have known the exact number, but she's keeping track :)

James is 4. He's very photogenic.

Here comes trouble: 

I figure I'll let his hair grow this summer and then get it cut right before school starts. It was quite humid at the park. 

This may be my favorite one of the whole bunch:

I had to take a break to nurse the baby for a minute, and the kids talked Rhiannon into pushing them on the swing set.

Amelie called this her "fire hair" - which she's still insisting is "strawberry brown," a label she made up herself, but it seems fitting.

And this was the whole reason for the photo shoot! Isn't it great? Leah at 2.5 months:

I'm pretty sure she was "talking" right here: 

I think this last one's funny, too - she was tired of having her picture made, so we went home. 

Amelie Says / James Says

It's been a while since I've done one of these!

Walking into Subway, Amelie passed an employee wearing a subway hat and a subway shirt carrying a subway bag of sandwiches.
Amelie: Wow! You must really love Subway!

Woman: Not actually at the moment.

Lately, Amelie's been saying "luckfully" instead of "luckily."

We were watching The Water Horse the other night, which has some flashbacks. I didn't realize the first one was a flashback and I told James the boy was using his imagination. Later in the film, James asked: "Is he imaginating?" 

I asked James to pick something up for me, and when he did I said he was super strong and helpful, but he let me know: "I didn't have to use all of my might."

Out of nowhere on the way home from Schnuck's James said that Leah was "definitely bigger than a blueberry."

James: Are leaves feathers?
Me: No
James: Are they a kind of feather?
Me: No
James: Really?
Me: Really
James: Well, they look like feathers.

James had to tell me three times that the teacher's aide wrote his name in sign language before I figured out he meant cursive.

He approached Leah when she was fussing and said, "What seems to be the problem?"

James told my coworker Sophia that Leah was learning how to say, "Hi." 

Video Update

I made this video of Leah rolling over last week. Now, she basically flips over the minute I put her down. I've only seen her roll front-to-back once, though, and I thought that was supposed to come first and be easier.

Baby Goes Swimming

Leah went swimming for the first time! It was about 4:30pm and we mostly stayed in the shade.

She really likes the bath, so I thought she'd really like the pool. 

 James was excited to see her in the water.

Here's the first time Amelie went swimming.

And here's a link to the first time James went swimming.

It looks like they were both about 6 months old.

Rolling and Moving All Over

I walked in to find Leah like this, just chilling like I hadn't placed her in the center of the buffalo blanket.

I think she might have scooted farther, but she got stuck on the chair. At least she didn't seem upset about it at all.

I can't believe she's this mobile 2 days shy of being 3 months old.

AND THEN she rolled over back-to-front 4 days after turning 3 months old. I missed it - I'd placed her on her back and she was on her front a minute later, happy as a clam. And then she's done it 3 more times in the past 3 days. James was VERY EXCITED to see the second time. I saw the 3rd time, but didn't get a video :)  She's also scooted this far again. James does a funny impression of how she's able to do it.

Captain Underpants

Captain Underpants is a 12-book graphic novel series that Amelie was introduced to by a friend at school. She brought it home (like lice) and now James is also obsessed. Nana Jana has been roped into the phenomenon as well. She's the only one who can be sweet talked into reading the whole thing in one go (they're LONG).

Anyway, we found out that they were making A MOVIE of Captain Underpants and ever since then, James has been PREPARED. Here's the preview:



Here is his reaction to seeing the preview on TV:

And here he is after learning that we would be GOING TO SEE the movie the next day:

We went to the library today to check out some more of the books (did I mention there are *twelve* books in the series, help me). There's been a run on them since the movie, and none were on the shelves - we asked the librarian who pointed us to the "to be shelved" section and we were able to snag one (#11 Captain Underpants and the Tyrannical Retaliation of the Turbo Toilet 2000).

I also go the kids signed up for the summer reading challenge. We got home 1/2 an hour before bedtime, but James already has a sticker. Amelie's challenge is a little harder (1 sticker per hour of reading). They get to pick out a book to keep at the end if they complete the project.

Excuse the mess and the blurry pictures - but hey, they're representative.

Comparison

Mama & Baby Leah wearing a dress from Aunt Barb's mom: 

Mama & Baby Amelie wearing the same dress: 

Leah's a little bigger in the picture (!) but then I realized she's 3 months old and Amelie was 2 months old. 

I told Sam I wanted a picture of me with Leah because we had one with Amelie wearing the same thing, and somehow he thought I meant *I* was wearing the same thing! Amelie was only a little impressed that she used to fit in the same outfit. 

Hanging Out with Dad

Leah hanging out with Sam after work.

Crafty

James made this super-cute bug craft at school.

He is also in love with this Paw Patrol t-shirt, even though as far as I know he hasn't seen the show. I think there must be a lot of books about it at his school, or several of the other kids are into it. I think we'll let his hair grow for the summer and then cut it before pre-K starts in the fall (we'll see if this bit in front continues to curl up or if it gets in his eyes).

Dr Visit

Amelie and Leah and Sam and I all went to her 7-year well-child check, which was conveniently on the last day of preschool for James but when she was already out of school for the summer (one less kiddo to cram in the exam room :)

She was 46 pounds (30th percentile) and 3 feet, 9 inches tall (5th percentile) at the appointment, up from 42 pounds and 3 feet, 7 inches at her doctor's visit last year. Dr. Swofford was impressed with the baby Hatchimal (toy that Amelie brought with us to the appointment in the background).

They gave her this frisbee as part of an effort to increase physical activity, but I think she's fine on that front. We took a health and wellness quiz at the beginning of the appointment and there were no trouble areas, so the nurse just asked her which prize she'd like. As you might imagine, it was used once as a frisbee, many times as another prop in some kind of imaginative game, and is already broken and in the recycle bin.

The girls all went to the park after the appointment (and Sam went back to work).

I should have tried to get one of Leah's many appointments scheduled concurrently, but this one was scheduled a year ago and I didn't think of it. I think we will be able to hit Leah's 6 month appointment and James's 5 year appointment at the same time, though.