Abby turns 3!

Heading out after Abby's princess bday party, Abby (left) checks on Libby and encourages her to pose for this photo. Josie doesn't want to go back by the girls, but even in standing where she is we almost have a classic with the girls side-by-side.


What a difference a year can make. Libby looks so big to me, especially compared to a year ago, and then see Abby, turning 3 the day before Libby turns 2, and she looks so much older still. Abby was a birthday princess, and provided crown favors for her guests. Libby loved the star-shaped PB&Js. Also, she carried this plate of sandwich out to the car when she suddenly exclaimed, "uh-oh! take a plate!!" Paper plates are a new phenomenon to her and she was very concerned that she had stolen a plate from Abby's house. I assured her that her plate was a special one that she was meant to keep.


What a goofy grin.


Fake smile that looks like stubbornness. Mouth full of PB. Again as we left Abby's house Libby was full of sweetness blowing kisses and waving as she said, "bye-bye! love you so much, Abby."

Abby has legos like Libby, but hers include purple legos, which Libby found to be very exciting. (See purple lego in hand, and those in background.)


I capture a photo of Josie as she munches on a snack.


Libby demonstrates spinning in her party dress.


Two little ones with their plates, ready for snacks. See the cute pink castle cake? After the lollipops, Libby thought it looked delicious.

 

Gazing down the mall.

 

"shop" on the downtown mall

A beautiful Saturday lent itself to a picnic on the downtown mall. Libby was very excited to "eat outside" since we haven't had the pleasure in several months. She was also excited to see the "mall" and thought at first that she was going to "go get anotter bear". (She was recalling her Valentine's day trip to the mall with Grandma Anna, Aunt Em, and Uncle Jon, where she got her special bear Val.) I informed her that this was a different kind of mall, but she continued to request that we shop. Fortunately, eating outside was followed up by several trips around on the carousel, which both the girls thoroughly enjoyed, and Libby didn't seem to mind that we didn't do all that much shopping.

Josie concentrated so carefully and held on dearly to her horsey.


Libby gets better and better at "posing" for the camera. Here she flashes me a genuine smile as she breezes by. Very sweet.


Mama captures Libby's enjoyment. She would term this "happy".


Am I cute or what?

 

Dinner with the Z's

Friday evening Lois prepared a delicious dinner for the 5 of us. Libby and her parents used to visit the Z's weekly, and though we hadn't been in their home since last May, moments after we walked through the door Libby headed straight for the toy basket. Though I'm not sure that she necessarily remembered where the toys were stashed, Lois and I were watching her and did get the sense that she was very familiar with the place and sort of naturally gravitated to the goodies. It was very sweet. She was incredibly comfortable in their home, and quite honestly, she was wild that evening. She did have a lot of "fun" as she so often told her mama.


Mark does double duty.


He snags Libby as she tries to breeze by.



Now Libby enjoys giving "5s", and she will even slap a high five, a low five, and a five on the side. But, she doesn't always perform on command. Here, Mark offers her "5" and she decides to grin for the camera instead.


A family photo before we head back to Josie's house.

 

Catching up with the oldies but goodies

Libby and I were thankful to join Cary for lunch and catch up with our good friend.


Libby had been oh so excited to see Abby. Abby, L, and Josie sit and enjoy their Bodos. Bagel-time! Josie declared. Libby didn't do much socializing during this little visit, but plenty of observing -- enough that as we left she was blowing kisses and proclaiming, "love you so much abby!"

 

just a day at the park

4 eyes on the camera. again, this proves to be a screaming success.


the girls share in their swinging delight


libby loves the park.


peeking at mama

 

Mama saves the feature presentation for the second leg of our flights to Charlottesville. Libby was quite interested, as you can see, for about 5 minutes. Soon, she was on to bigger and better airline entertainment.


We've landed and the girls pose for their first photo together. Josie and Libby, copilots at the park.


Libby loves going down the slide... flashback to April 2006 below.


Libby loves going down the slide. I can't believe how much she's changed in a year!

 

Almost Two (?!)

Well, it's been a while since our last post, and I doubt I'll have time to post any pictures since Libby and mama leave tomorrow to visit our friends in Virginia. But, I wanted to submit one of Libby's latest comments because she's been so sweet and fun. It's hard to believe she is turning two so soon!

Friday afternoon mama explained that daddy and I were going to go bye-bye in the evening, but that grandma and family would be coming over to babysit Libby while we were gone. She tried to change my mind by using her really high pitched and super duper cute voice and said,
"mama stay home too!"
i told her, "no, mama has to go bye-bye. we have fun together, don't we."
she replied, "daddy mama fun. daddy fun. mama fun."
i said, "thank you libby! mama and daddy are fun. and you are fun too!"
and she said, "thank you!"
it was such a cute little coversation.

later that afternoon she was spinning in the den as she loves to do. she exclaims "spin spin spin" as she goes round and round, and when she stops, she's clearly still "spinning" and she looks at mama and says, "hang on mama!"

she has also become very fond of singing. she has always liked music, but she now delights in mama singing to her, and she sings along - especially if i pause to let her fill in the word. i am continually amazed at the words she remembers from the song. i can pause almost anywhere in a few songs and she'll pick up where i left off. her favorites are, "jesus loves me" (which she really belts out, and it's amazingly sweet), "baby beluga" and "wheels on the bus". she especially likes it when we rock and sing after her nap. whenever mama finshes a song, libby pipes in so quietly with, "more."

well, it's time for me to get back to work. i hope to have pics posted soon after we return from our trip. i know we'll have plenty of cute ones with libby and josie playing together. libby exclaimed today, "hi jesoh! happy!" (she calls josie, jesoh.) she's clearly going to be happy to see her little friend tomorrow.

Libby gets her pup-pup

Friday night, at 10:00 p.m. daddy and mama embarked upon a 5.5 hour drive to bring home libby's pup-pup. An ice storm moved in right about the same time, and we safely arrived back at home Saturday night around 7:30 p.m. We had planned to spend Friday night in a hotel, so it wasn't THAT bad. But, needless to say, we were glad to get home.

The pictures below are in order from most to least recent. Libby and Barnabas have become good pals. She goes back and forth between completely ignorning him and giggling at his silliness (like scratching his collar area). When she interacts with him she's so gentle and kind. She's had practice with her other favorite doggie, Izzy.

Having Barnabas at home is much like bringing home a baby. Mama is taking him outside every few hours through the night, he can never be out of my sight, and I'm constantly wondering, "does he have to go now? does that mean he needs out?" clearly my biggest concern is my carpet. :) not entirely, but since he's otherwise healthy, my carpet is right up there on the list of concerns.

Enjoy the pics of our babies. It's incredible how much Barns has grown already. You may be able to tell from the pics of him here with libby on down. We have noticed a difference in the 6 days we've had him! Not a good sign for someone who is hoping for a small fully grown doodle! But, with his sweet personality (he loves to cuddle and play with his toys, and doesn't like his shadow when he's trying to eat) and intelligence (he wakes mama up by whining when he has to go outside in the night and he's starting to learn how we feel about some no-no behaviors) we'll keep him nonetheless. Plus, he's our first son!

mama mops the floor and her two little messmakers make quite the audience (libby is wearing her new outfit from aunt sarah - thanks aunt sarah! and, you should know that this morning when she woke up, the first thing libby said was, "sah-sah!" aunt sarah babysat last night and libby was disappointed she wasn't here to get her out of bed. so were daddy and mama. :)

barnabas creeps over to lay on libby's lap, completely on his own. he'd rather cuddle with her than play with his toys. (barnabas is sporting his new leash and harness. the harness is still a bit big for him, but not for long. it's great because it allows him to be buckled into the car! he's already gone on his first outing buckled in safely!)

 

when we got home with barnabas it was after 9 p.m. and libby's time to play with him was pretty limited. but, the next morning we posed the two of them together for some pictures. he looks so big on her lap, but you'll see below how little he looks when outside next to daddy.

libby and barnabas immediately hit it off. she and he are both incredibly gentle with one another. he pretty much takes whatever she gives him, but all she gives him are cuddles and kisses and gentle pets. she was so happy to have him sit up on her lap in these pictures.

here you can see how carefully she's considering her actions as she pets him on his back. he's so fleecy and soft!

libby offers her canned smile for the photo

she is so sweet with him. barnabas is looking at daddy and wondering what on earth he's talking about.

 

an emergency stop because little barnabas was whining and squirming! mama stays in the comfort of the van for warmth.


daddy gives barnabas his first bath at home. daddy's face says, "take a quick pic, i want to get to bed." it's been a long day at this point, and we're all exhausted.
now mama gets to pose with the wee little thing, who weighs in at 8 pounds. he loves when mama cuddles him.


... as you can see, he loves when mama cuddles him. he bonded with us easily, and grew very fond of nuzzling his little face into mama's neck. here, i even get a kiss!

 

Bar-bas, come.

New posts are more challenging these days,
since we no longer have our camera.
Unfortnately, a great weekend getaway in Chicago ended with the realization that unpacking our bag would go quickly, since most of our belongings had been stolen out of it. Yes, the camera included. So, boo United Airlines and boo Chicago O'Hare. In the meantime, I received these 2 updated pictures of Barnabas, referred to as Bar-bas by Libby. Yesterday she requested, "Barbas, come. Barbas, home." Barnabas will be coming home on Saturday, and hopefully we'll find a way to get pictures of his homecoming! Libby is ready for him, with toys and treats and his new bed. He is already very loved!

And missing are the photos of our family Christmas that took place last Wednesday evening (no photos were taken, sadly...). We had a great time exchanging another round of gifts and enjoying a family gathering with everyone included. Libby and fam got to meet Aunt Lucy's fiance, and for the first time tried to negotiate a gathering with two Uncle Daniels. Libby got some great gifts, once again, including adorable new clothes, fingerpuppets with a book, and her very own housekeeping set. One morning we will wake up to the house spic-and-span, we are confident. Libby really loves to clean.

Libby also loves to play, and mama is getting left out of the fun, so that's all for now!