Professional Photos

 The unsinkable Rhiannon Trask of Lollipop Photography came out to the house to do the photos for James's 3-month milestone and our Christmas pictures all rolled into one.

Amelie at 30 months old.(That's two and a half years old, for those not in the thick of well-child visits.)

I think this one is my favorite of her.

She is just so darn excited. (Aunt Tara -- the book she's holding is Baby Steps, which you got us the Christmas I was pregnant with her.)

James at almost 3 months old:

James doesn't quite know how he feels about this whole photography business. Is it so serious?

So concerning?

Or so surprising?

 

She took some fun family shots of us in the nursery, too.

Thanks to our friends Jon & Liz for the super cool motorcycle sweater. I think James's Papaw Buffaloe probably got a kick out of it.

This one is definitely my favorite of James.

Christams Cookies/Christmas Sweater

We made gingerbread cookies for our holiday party. I have an inordinate amount of cookie cutters, so there were lots of shapes -- more than just the regular gingerbread man. Ms. Linda stopped by earlier that day to give her a Christmas sweater, which set the mood.

She kept wanting to eat the dough, and Sam kept freaking out about it.

She did get to eat a cookie once they were baked, though I think they were much better when they'd been iced. Our friend Caitlin came and was the master icer.

Amelie is pretty goofy.

Bathtime

I am certainly grateful that both of my kids enjoy bathtime so much. Here's James in the baby tub at 3 months old.

Amelie couldn't wait for her turn for bath. You can see her foot sneaking into the photo in this one.

Breakfast

Even More Play Gym

Aunt Barb, did you get us this zip sleeper?

At the Park

It was unseasonably warm a little while ago, so it seems strange to post these pictures when there's practically a blizzard outside.

As I've mentioned before, we get a lot of use out of our neighborhood park.

All of Amelie's pants became 3 inches too short overnight.

Climbing the stairs at 30 months:

For comparison, here's Amelie on the stairs at 16 months. Hasn't she grown?

Whee!

Sliding down the big slide at 22 months:

I'm pretty sure this is not recommended by the manufacturers of the playground equipment, but I have to imagine that it's good for her coordination (and frankly, quite a bit less frightening than climbing the monkey bar steps).

Still as much fun as it was at 16 months. This is one of my all-time favorite photos:

Sam looks like a giant!

Walking along the stone wall

I carried James in the sling. Next summer, he'll enjoy the park.

We tried to get Amelie to pose for a picture with Mama

But it didn't much work

Firsts

Some firsts!

James rolled over on Tuesday night. He went from front to back twice -- Sam saw the first one and I saw the second one. He actually got up halfway on his side from back to front, too.

Amelie got in trouble for the first time at school on Wednesday. They were headed out to the playground and she bolted from her teacher so she had to sit inside instead of having outside play time.

More Smiles

 Surprised baby!