Alice at two months

Alice's two month birthday came and went on Monday. We've been busy, so didn't really do anything special.

She is still doing very well. She even slept through the night once this week! Most nights she has to wake up at least once, but she has started to go to sleep in her crib around 8 or 9.

She continues to eat very well, though she still spits up, sometimes a lot. Jeni brought her in to the doctor today for shots, weighing, etc. She is 24 inches long (but Jeni thinks the nurse undermeasured) and weighs 13 lb 5.5 oz. Both of those are above the 90th percentile. So she's big, but well proportioned.

Here she is after a bath. Her hair still curls and sticks up, and doesn't lie flat for a few days afterward.

When Alice is awake and not too hungry, she loves to make eye contact, smile, and laugh. Here she is on Bubba's lap a few weekends ago.

Alice spends late afternoons in the automatic swing. She'll usually sleep, but only after staring at the moving fish for a while.

Thanks to the swing, Jeni is able to play with Mason a bit and make dinner for us all. So thank you swing makers!

Mason and his toys

Mason has started to play a bit more imaginatively with his toys.

He has been able to put train track pieces together for a while, but this was his first success at building a loop. He likes to put animals from his zoo in the loop and have trains chug around them.

He also like to reenact scenes from the Thomas television show or books. In one story a train attempts to chug through some water covering the tracks, but gets stuck. A helicopter drops supplies via parachute to the stuck train. Mason even added the fencing on either side of the track. (By the way, Jeni made the parachute with a breast pad and some string. What a talented Mama!)

Yesterday, Mason made "Mason" and "Alice" with his Legos. Mason is taller and has brown hair. Alice is shorter and has blue hair, probably because Mason couldn't find the other brown piece.

Mason and Marty

Our friend Marty came to visit the University a few weeks ago and he spent the night with us. Mason and Marty became fast friends, and Marty read "Scuffy," a book he had brought for Mason, before bedtime.

Marty may move to the area. If so, maybe we can organize some playdates for the two of them.

Thanks everyone!

Jeni's friends in playgroup made us many good dinners since Alice was born.

This post is a thank you to everyone who helped make our life a bit easier.

So thanks to Rachel, Cathy, Kelley, Kate, Mia, Virginia, and Katie!

Katie and Kenny visit

My cousin Katie is a freshman at the University and comes to visit when she's not too busy at school. A few weekends ago, she came by with her brother Kenny.

Katie is a great babysitter so once Alice is able to drink from a bottle and sleep a bit longer, we hope that we might get her to watch the kids.

A big day

Last Saturday was a fun day.

Alice tried out the baby carrier for only the second or third time. She seemed to like it for a bit.

After her nap, Jeni took some pictures of Alice stretching. Alice is a champion post-nap stretcher.

Then at night, Alice and Mason took a bath.

Alice is smiling

Alice is now smiling at Jeni, Mason, and I. If we smile at her, she will smile back after a few tries.

I took some pictures of her while she was in a good mood.

Beautiful isn't she?

Last week, Alice went to the doctor. She is up to 11 pounds, 14 ounces (quite large) and 23.5 inches (quite long).

Mason-- looking good

For some reason I decided that rather than bring Mason to the barbershop last week I would cut his hair myself.

It turned out pretty well, for my first time anyway.

Mason is learning to brush his teeth. We are trying to teach him to spit so that he can use real toothpaste. He usually can't help himself and swallows though.

Mason wanted Jeni to take a picture of him jumping off his stool. He misjudged and hit the door before the floor.

He is a bit clumsy so has learned how to take a fall. Hitting the door was no problem.