15 Months

Dear Lena Lu,

You are 15 months old!  You are walking!! Just like that,  two weekends ago, you decided it was time and you went from doing only tiny timid steps to running.  You are quite pleased with yourself and we're excited too! Emmie is especially thrilled to have a partner for kitchen laps.  The cats, are not so happy. But oh, what a busy little toddler you are becoming! You are a talker and right now your favorite words are "baby, cup cup, drink, eat, I did it, Papa, where is she, Memmie and long strings of words we're still learning. You must have Bernard for comfort times, naps and bedtime. He is your beloved dollie.  You still suck two fingers and do not want to give up nursing. You are 20 pounds and I'm not sure how long- but long!! You're in 12 month clothing, though some 9 months still fit you just fine. You are growing hair- light brown/dark blond? We're not sure yet.  Your eyes seem hazel or blue. You are such a strong little person, opinionated and stubborn.  You love dogs hysterically, you love beards, cranberry juice, sausage, and your physical therapist, Sharon. You hate pools and sprinklers but you adore bath time. You are finally getting interested in books and carry them around showing us all the babies in books.  You are a climber and a monkey, getting into everything. You do just about everything on your own terms, in your own time, in your own beautiful way.  Somehow 15 months seems unbelievable to me since you're still so baby-like, still so tiny.  You still nestle in to rock and cuddle when you are tired and have started giving hugs and kisses, pointing to eyes and noses.  We're so proud of you little Lena! How we love you. 

Deep Summer

 It is deep summer. You can tell because the evenings are beginning to feel like mountain nights and the crickets sing their song all the time.  Autumn is creeping closer and we seem to be trying to squeeze the last bit of summer joy into these golden August days.  Emmeline is 34 months now and acting ever so grown up. The potty is going so well and she knows her ABCs and many numbers.  Suddenly she's needing 3T clothing and bigger shoes and has taken an interest in combing her own hair and doing everything by herself.  Lena is walking all the time now and we have arrived in the world of two toddlers. Lena counts 1, 2, 3 and could also 'talk the hind leg off a mule'.  Right now Momma's ears are tired, but blessed by these girlies.  We've had sad days as 8 teeth continue to plague poor baby girl. But we've tried to distract in any number of ways with park time, cousin time and art Fridays. As Momma makes final edits on the never ending thesis in the wee hours of the morning God sustains us and Papa keeps us all sane.

And like that... here comes August

Momma doesn't have much time to write here, but some pictures will suffice to document the month of July, which ended up feeling much too busy and a bit crazy.  With eight teeth working their evil way through, Lena has not been the happiest of girlies. Em is working on transitioning to "rest time" instead of "sleep time" (though hey we'd love sleep) and it seems that's thrown our world a bit upside down too.  But in the middle of all of that we've had picnics and reunions and pool time, porch time, backyard time and walks on the Perkiomen Trail.  These two sure keep us busy but the days are good, even the hard ones.