Weekend Away

Kara and Ben spent their first weekend away from the girls to head to the wedding of their college friend, Emily, and her husband, Chris.  It was a superb, beautiful celebration down in Iowa City and it was an absolute pleasure hanging out with friends without the diaper bag, waking up in the morning without watching PBS, and going out to eat without worrying about meltdowns.  The girls stayed with Grandma and Grandpa in Owatonna and had a great time.

The girls continue to grow quickly and have been a lot of fun.  Nina has been a barrel of laughs with lines like:

Mom:  "Do you like compromise?"  Nina:  "Ummm...I think no."
Dad:  "What're you doing?"  Nina:  "Putting on my sandals so you guys don't say 'put on your shoes, Nina.'"
In the backseat, just waking up from a nap, talking to Mom & Dad:  "Are you two ok back there?"
After imaginary phone call at grandma's: "Yeah, they're on a trip.  They really miss me.  They're really sad."

Vivian will now stand independently, which is not appreciated when in the bath.  She likes feeding herself food and bottles, she waves a lot, she likes to share things she picks up, and she loves to point at pictures.  She was a little crabby this mother's day, but enjoyed spending time with family.  Here is the much-overdue photo update spanning three-plus weeks.

 

Enjoying the Cinco de Mayo Parade     -------    Music in the park has started!

Ten Months

It seems like ten months since we've last blogged, so we've got a lot of ground to cover.   Vivian is crawling all over, has started to cruise, climb steps, and gets into everything.  She likes eating table food, points a lot, and is constantly trying to talk.  She quit her pacifier about 5 weeks back and has started to sleep (almost) through the night!  Hallelujah!

link to all Vivian videos on google+

Spring has been super busy already and the girls are thrilled for daily trips to different parks.  Nina has shown her little sister all the fun things to do and Vivian is very eager to try it all.  

We promise to post again soon with plenty other spring (and supposed spring) pictures!

Different girls

The more Vivian establishes her personality, the more obvious it is that our two girls are very different.  Here are a few ways that come to mind:

• Nina prefers to be cold; Vivian warm
• Nina enjoys sleeping at night and for naps; Vivian dislikes both
• Vivian likes to cuddle; Nina never really has
• Vivian has a cry you can hear 2 floors away; Nina is hard to hear if the door is half-closed
• Nina loves to swim; Vivian isn't a fan (yet)
• Nina loves putting toys in boxes/purses; Vivian enjoys pulling and throwing things out
• Vivian prefers to be held by mama; Nina is a daddy's girl
• Vivian likes to sit and play; Nina has always preferred to be on the go
• Nina is deathly afraid of car horns and blow dryers; Vivian enjoys both
• Nina's clothes are all baggy; Vivian rocks skinny jeans, even if they're regular jeans

Run outside               ------                  Sit inside

The girls are still similar in a few ways, too.  Both like to dance, feed themselves, go on walks, hang out in social settings, and both are fakers (cries, sneezing, sleeping).

Both happy eaters

"Dada"

Vivian has been babbling away the last few days and, as promised, here's what we've got on tape.  The girls had fun on their first wagon ride together.

Nine Months

Vivian has been all over as she turns 9 months.  She wants to crawl, wants to talk, and wants to eat adult food.  She yells, "mama" in the middle of the night, and has started saying "Dada."  We are trying to get videos, but it's tough when Nina is often shouting too.

Nina has been very encouraging of all of Vivian's accomplishments as she yells, "You can do it, I know you can!" "She's talking" and "Way to go, Vivi!"  When too frustrated to try crawling, Vivian does a lot of playing, some dancing, and likes to watch whatever Nina is doing.  Currently Nina is into singing, telling knock-knock jokes, and fake-sneezing.

Google+ link for HD