Happy Thanksgiving!

I made cookies again! Of course it's not an original idea (are there any?) but it's still a great idea and easy and cute.

Little slices of pumpkin pie!

In case you forgot what pumpkin pie looks like

This year, as every year, we are thankful for the simple things: our health, family and friends. I am also more thankful than normal for cocoa butter lotion, sound machines, and Curious George. I wish I was thankful for the ability to get eight people and two dogs to look at the camera at the same time.

Yikes, Simon...

Happy Thanksgiving just the same!

Cups

In case anyone has been living under a rock, Pitch Perfect is an awesome movie. In it Anna Kendrick does this really catchy clap/cup game. Am I the only one who remembers doing it in high school? We watched the music video one day at lunch and Luca loved it. Then when Brittany was in town she wanted to learn it, so I taught her while Luca watched and played along. Now every so often Luca brings out a pile of plastic cups and asks us to play cups. And he plays when the song comes on. Like this:

Our Little Artist

We introduced Luca to hand print turkeys for this Thanksgiving. We have not yet broached the concept of coloring in the lines. If you look closely, you can see the (upside down) hand tracing. When I was coloring in Tessa's I said I was drawing the "body." So when Luca was coloring in his, he added the "booty."

It is possible we watch too much Curious George, but it is also equally possible he's seen his too-lazy-to-bend-over Mama pick up things with my toes, but one day Luca decided to show off his monkey toe skills

We couldn't be more proud!

By the numbers

First, shout out to all the marching band geeks who hear "by the numbers" and think about going through a facing step by step. Just me?

Anyway, Tessa's two month well-baby appointment was Monday. We've been weighing her occasionally on my parents' scale, but didn't know how accurate it was. So we were guessing somewhere between 11 and 13 pounds.

It's funny, every time I go to the pediatrician, no matter what kind of visit it is, he reminisces about Luca's early visits. He kept losing weight in the beginning and we couldn't figure out why. To the point the doc was worried he had some condition that was preventing him from gaining weight. We were in every third day doing weight checks. He didn't get back up to his birth weight until he was a month old. As can be expected, the whole thing stressed Josh and I out. I guess it was one of the biggest unexplainable weight losses the doc had seen, and it stuck with him.

How's that for scale... she's getting big!

So when we brought Tessa in when she was a couple days old and she had only lost two ounces, and when we brought her at 2 weeks and she had gained, he said he was so glad that we weren't going through the same thing again. (Us too!)

On to the numbers... Our little miss is 12 and a half pounds and two feet tall! That's the 98th percentile for height! Think she got the same genes as her cousin Adrienne! =) She's in the 74th percentile for weight. She was a sweetheart during the appointment. While the doc was checking her eyes out, he waved the instrument in front of her face and said to me "She's tracking some." I nodded. When he was done he looked at me surprised and said, "She tracked the whole time." I nodded again--I knew that was a skill she had. I didn't know that it's most commonly a skill for 4 month olds. =) He was also impressed with her leg rolls and her tiny feet. Three shots (poor thing!) and we were headed home.

2 months

Just like that, two months have gone by. Crazy stuff.

She is such a sweet little smiley girl! Likes being held, likes being in her swing, likes being on her play mat. We haven't really done tummy time, so don't know her opinion of that yet. She's serious about eating. In the beginning I was so nervous about her getting enough and growing that I paid a lot of attention to the clock, making sure she was eating every 1.5-2 hours like she's "supposed" to. And then she grew. And grew. And is growing so well. So I've eased off the stressing about it. Now I just feed her when she acts hungry. Sometimes it's hourly, sometimes it's 3 or 4 hours apart (during the day!). So, I'm afraid if I put her on her tummy she'll explode. Which is why no real tummy time.

Reading with Daddy and Luca

She's still a wonderful sleeper. She usually goes to bed around 9, sleeps until midnight or 1, wakes up again around 5, and then about 7 or 8. She'll go back to sleep after that, so during the week Luca and I have breakfast just the two of us. During the day she's usually awake for an hour or an hour and half, and sleeps for an hour or two at a time. I don't know if Luca was an especially tricky baby or if she is just crazy easy. I'd always heard that the jump from one kid to two was hard, and having more after that is pretty easy. Aside from some logistical issues (lifting Luca on the potty while nursing) it's been not so bad at all. She fits right into our little family! =)

All bundled up so Luca and I could play in the leaves

Her eyes are still a really pretty blue, who knows if they will stay that way! Luca's eyes just recently started turning browner, so we'll see how long Tessa can hold onto the blue. My mom would be tickled if she kept it!
We are excited for Thanksgiving, it will be her opportunity to meet a bunch of family members for the first time. I'm sure she'll be smiling at everyone! Like in the video the other day, she loves talking and smiling at you. And if you get up in her face and make kissy noises she'll give kisses. I don't know how, but I forgot how babies give open mouth kisses... Love it!

Tessa likes her room

How do I know the opinions of my not quite two month old, you ask? I'll present the facts and see if you draw the same conclusion.

Fact: When I'm going to be in her room for a while I lay her in her crib instead of on the floor. (Luca and I are allergic to Jude, we're not sure about her yet.) And naturally I turn on her mobile. Every time (every time!) she smiles while she's watching it turn.

Fact: In the video yesterday I was trying to get her to talk while we were at the kitchen table. I got a yawn. But, on her changing table we have entire conversations. Let me tell you, at two in the morning when I am all bleary eyed changing her, that big ol' grin is downright awesome. "Sure," you say, "yesterday you said she talks and all we got was a yawn. But we totally believe you today..."

Fact: Video proof

The only logical conclusion is that Tessa likes her room!

The music during my day

We've had a rough week or so. Luca has been nonstop clingy. Even at midnight. And 1am. And 3:30am. And 5am. And 6am. Which wouldn't necessarily be the end of the world, except it seems to be that Tessa is then hungry at 11pm. And 2am. And 7am. Which makes for a very crabby mommy and a very whiny Luca. This morning I was trying to get a video of Tessa talking. (She talks! Well, she makes noises with the most expressive face!) Luca came around the table to see what I was doing. And then this:

Repeat ad nauseam. All day long. And at midnight, and 1am.....

He asked me to

First, you should know that out of all the holidays, Thanksgiving is my favorite. Friends and family all getting together to share a giant delicious meal, without any of the gift giving/receiving pressure of Christmas. Hands down, far and away, I love Thanksgiving.

But the Thanksgiving decorations are pretty 'meh.' Christmas decorations, however, are wonderful. Lights and greenery and ornaments that I made in preschool. So there's always a little bit of a struggle in this house with when it is appropriate to put up decorations. We have generally settled on the day after Thanksgiving for the tree, and it isn't the end of the world if some little stuff goes up earlier.

So we were all watching TV and a Christmas commercial came on. (Josh's "Are you kidding me!?" face went on too). I jokingly told Luca to tell him that he wanted to put up the tree and sing Jingle Bells. Josh said it was too early. I laughed a little, and Luca started crying. He apparently felt quite passionately about putting up the tree. Since I don't disagree with him, we compromised and put up a little tree in his bedroom. And let him hang some ornaments from my Grandma. He was so happy! He wants to use it as his nightlight now.

Josh and I also have an understanding that as long as I don't expect him to help, I can kind of put stuff up whenever (within reason). So since I took down the Halloween garland from the banisters upstairs, it's looked pretty naked. Totally planning on bringing up the greenery, lights and ornaments for them soon!

It's autumn!

Even though it's fall, the weather has been so crazy that it seems our trees haven't noticed yet. We have maybe 5 leaves in the yard. Mom's trees are the same way. Mom's neighbor, however, has trees that can read a calendar! He was outside mowing to mulch them, but mom ran over and asked him to stop so Luca could play. And because Luca is sort of the grandson to many of mom's neighbors, he stopped. =)

First Luca helped rake. Tines down this year! But he would put the rake in the middle of the pile and pull out, spreading the leaves out.

He jumped in the pile and asked to get right back out again. More raking and he would jump once again. As with all new experiences, once he warmed up to what was going on he had a blast! Jumping in the leaves, throwing them, running through them, and then raking them back together again. He played for at least an hour!

I love his face! =)

Our trees are just starting to turn, so he might get to play in the leaves some more!