Mario Miles

Check out this boy's eyelashes - if you look closely at his left eye, one of his top lashes is bent down to his bottom lashes so you can see how crazy long they are!

What do I love about these pictures? The subtle and not-so-subtle signs of what it means to be a three year old boy. Hair a little long over the ears, always needing a trim. Bit of green on his lips from a recent lollipop, layered over some Cheetos crumbs. And in about 3 seconds, his face can go from serious to silly.  Don't grow up Miles, or at least, don't start sassing me like your sister.

She Does Like Me...

...maybe even loves me, despite how sassy and teenager-ish she has been of late. I have to look at pictures like these daily to remind me that she is still five and is my little girl.

Curls and Girls

Penelope's hair is really curly right after a bath, but after a few naps or a ponytail, the curls tame down quite a bit. But I love this crazy curly hair while it lasts. I wonder if she will have any curls when her hair grows a bit longer. Claire lost hers. 

This is one of my favorite outfits for Penelope, I go back to it first whenever it comes out of the dryer. I never quite got the knack of dressing her for winter - there were too many cute springtime clothes to choose from. Besides, winter is so short here it's almost over. It's supposed to be 77 degrees on Sunday. I also like this outfit because it goes with one I bought for Claire - it's harder to find things for them to wear together given their age difference. 

Kiddos

Just some recent pics of life around here - we are still alive, but very busy. I am learning how to stay sane and productive at home two days a week. Raising kids is the best hardest craziest rewarding thing I will ever do, but man it wears you out. And I don't even have my kids all day every day like a lot of moms do.

Penelope went from sitting in one spot to crawling over the place to pulling herself up on the couch in a matter of weeks. We have to get the baby gates up soon for the steps and the kitchen - she crawled over to a hot oven the other day. She also found a bead on the floor from one of Claire's crafts - scary. Her third top tooth finally cut through, so pretty soon her snaggle tooth won't look so lonely.

Claire wants to hold Penelope all the time - I should just let her because pretty soon Penelope won't want to be held at all. Claire will hold Penelope like this, and then put one arm down and crab walk in small hops to somewhere new in the room. Drives me crazy! I told her she isn't allowed to walk around with Penelope so this is her solution. Penelope doesn't seem to mind. Notice Claire's face barely changes in these pictures while I snap away - she is trained!

And Miles man is just his happy self. Until he throws a tantrum. But he's been a good boy lately, and is doing really well with his alphabet, name and numbers. Preschool is around the corner! He made me laugh until I cried last night - he was making the silliest faces while singing a church song from his primary class. Matt said - at least Miles got one of my genes :)

Sundays

Penelope - 9 Months Old!

What the what? This girl is already 9 months old - three quarters of her first year, gone in a flash! She is crawling everywhere! And she is getting four top teeth all at once to go with her two on the bottom, though every other tooth has cut through so far. She is snaggle tooth girl, big time. Nevermind her nose, which has been running for two weeks while she's teething. She is a very happy girl unless she's tired or hungry - which are pretty good reason to fuss, right? :)

Penelope knows "all done" in sign language and she likes to use it especially after taking just one bite of squash or carrots. I think she tried the sign for food the other day but I'm not positive yet. She waves goodbye - so cute! Fruit and yogurt are her favorite foods. She loves Cheerios and will occasionally have some apple juice. I swear she is really saying "mom" and "bye", and she throws up her arms when you say "How big is Penelope? Soooo big!" Here is a video of her showing off her skills - I hope it comes through.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhDP9os8CKQ



Here are her latest stats:

Height: 28.25 inches (50-75%)
Weight: 20.0 lbs (50-75%)
Head: 45 cm (75-90%)

No Cavities!

We love our dentist! The kids got to sit together in the chair for their cleanings and exams (which they loved!), and they get spin toothbrushes (the battery ones), temporary tattoos, a toy from the machine and chapstick every time they go for a check up. Did anything like this exist when we were kids? No way!

Watching Beauty and the Beast - they think the dentist is where they go to watch movies

I confess I was a bit nervous about their teeth - we let them brush their own teeth without help more often than not so I thought I would be hearing news of several cavities. Hallelujah! Mama doesn't have any money for dental work right now.

Cell phone pics are the best I could do - even pixelated, you can still tell they were having fun!