Baby Tricks

Baby Chasing!

13 Months!

It's becoming near impossible to get a picture of the two of them together, but I'd like to continue the monthly pics. We'll see :) These are the best I could get this month!

Two on the move

Charlie is crawling! A few days ago he was up and rocking on his knees the way he's been doing. Lily crawled up next to him and - boom - they both just took off together in a mad crawling race. Yay! Now there is no stopping him. Just like Lily, the second we put Charlie down now he's on the move. He usually heads right to the toys and starts pulling everything out. Joe and I have been laughing this week how all of a sudden Charlie has developed such a big personality. He's much more active than ever before - crawling, pulling up on everything. He's become quite mischievous too - we can see him plotting things in a Lily-like fashion. He's been cracking us up!

Speaking of Lily, her newest trick is clapping. She started yesterday out of nowhere. I got her up from her morning nap and put her on the changing table, and she just startes applauding for me. Now she does it all the time. She also knows how to blow kisses, which is another new favorite of hers. She breaks out her entire arsenal of tricks whenever anyone is paying attention to Charlie instead of her. Her personality is priceless.

The babies have been enjoying having Daddy home with them for the summer.

But they still like playing with Mommy. But they have the most fun with each other.

Lily loves making her way into the kitchen to see what I'm up to. The other morning she was kind enough to help me put away the dishes.

Charlie's favorite part of the morning is Sesame Street. I put it on for the babies while they play, and for the most part they ignore it. But the second Elmo's World starts, Charlie is riveted.

Laughing Babies

Swimming Sunday

Today Charlie and Lily went swimming for the first time! The weather has been super hot - perfect for the pool - so today we went over to Joe's aunt Patty's house to go swimming.

Cousin Melissa was kind enough to find a pump to help Joe blow up the baby floats. He started out using just his lungs to inflate them, but thankfully Melissa intervened before he passed out.
"Ooooh, now this is a ride fit for a princess!"

Charlie with Aunt Patty, all ready for the pool .
Lily loved the water right away.

Charlie needed a little time to get used to it.
Water Bug!

"I don't know about this, Mommy..."

"Okay - the pool isn't so bad after all!"

Pool floats aren't the only method of cruising that Charlie and Lily have been using lately. Earlier this week we broke out the buggies that Great-Aunt Diane, Great-Uncle John and cousin Adam bought for Charlie and Lily's birthday and took a spin around the neighborhood. The babies loved their buggies. Charlie was particularly adorable in his - he holds the wheel tight in both hands just like he's really driving. Charlie and Lily also graduated from their infant car seats to these awesome convertible seats this week. Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa!

And I had to include this picture too! Charlie loves to reach out and grab Lily. When he catches her hand he laughs and laughs. It's so cute!

So many new things!

It seems that in the last few weeks Charlie and Lily have been doing something new almost every day. They are getting so big and seem to be growing up so fast. The days are so fun because we never know what they are going to do next. Here's a summary of the last 2 weeks or so:

- Crawling! Lily learned to crawl. She is fast and just loves maneuvering around the house. We find her under foot in the kitchen all the time and her favorite thing to do is crawl to the toy baskets and pull everything out. The other day Joe was painting in the dining room and she motored right on in there to help. Charlie is making a lot of progress with crawling too. He's moving into the position constantly and scooching, edging forward to grab what he wants. I think he'll be following Lily around any day now.
- Pulling up! Both babies are doing this now. Charlie LOVES to stand - it's his favorite thing to do. He is so happy when we stand him up in front of the exersaucer or the music table to play. When we're not available to lift him up though, he works hard on pulling himself to standing. He's almost got it! Lily does it too, but she really prefers to try to climb up people instead of grabbing objects.



- Teeth! Lily officially has a tooth on the bottom, and another one coming in on the top. None for Charlie yet, but we're sure he won't be toothless for long. Although, I will miss his sweet, gummy smile! (In this picture he's all proud of himself because he pulled all the sleep sacks off the side of the pack n' play. He gets so much joy from doing that!)
- Words! Lily and Charlie have been saying "Dada" for quite some time now, but this morning Joe taught Lily to say "Mama!" I cried a little when I heard her, I have to admit. She doesn't know that she's talking about me when she says it, but when you say "Mama" to her she repeats it clear as day. So cute!

They are just getting so big! I included these pictures because you can really tell how strong and sturdy Lily has become. Here she is turning poor Tucker into her own personal pony.

Woah - hold on!

This place is a zoo!

New Jersey is just now coming off of a brutal heat wave, but right before the 100 degree temperatures arrived we had a few days that didn't climb much out of the 70s. Joe and I decided to take advantage of this great weather and took the babies on a trip to the Philadelphia Zoo. We had such a fantastic time! Charlie and Lily took a nice little nap on the drive to the zoo, and by some small miracle we got an amazing parking spot right in front of the zoo entrance. Charlie and Lily were angels the entire time we were there, and while they seemed to enjoy people watching more than checking out the animals (the only one they showed much interest in was a plain ol' goose that was wandering around near the lake), they were happy the entire trip. It was just the perfect summer outing. We're thinking of getting season passes to the zoo next year so we can visit regularly.

Charlie and Lily were happy to be the navigators as we made our way around the zoo.

"No, Charlie! The penguins are to the LEFT! Never mind - just give me back the map!"

We sat by this pretty fountain to feed the babies their bottles. Lily and Daddy had to go up for a closer look.
Fountain photo op!
We found a great little grassy park within the zoo where the babies had their lunch. They enjoyed getting out of the stroller for a bit and stretching out. (Notice how they're smiling, but at the same time they're subtly fighting over a toy? That happens a lot.)
Apparently we didn't take pictures of any animals at the zoo. So I'll substitute with this picture of a Bug in one of her natural habitats, the exersaucer. Notice how she's chosen to be under it instead of in it. Lily has officially learned to crawl. She is fast, and she is everywhere. Charlie is starting to work hard on crawling too, but he much prefers to stand. He does fantastic standing up and holding on to things. It's his favorite thing to do, and sometimes he starts to cry if we try to sit him down instead of letting him stand. His second favorite thing to do is snuggle. He now reaches his arms towards us when he wants to be picked up, or pats our legs or faces to get our attention. And how could we resist?!?
I had to show off these cute shirts. They were a birthday gift from Joe's cousin Kate.
Say cheese! Since Joe took this picture a week ago, Lily has gotten her first tooth! I'm trying to get a nice picture of that for the next post :)

Happy 4th of July!

"Charlie, have you seen my awesome shorts?!?! Look!!"

1st Place Team!

The other day Joe and I received this plaque in the mail. It seems as though Team Three Cheers for Babies took the award for 1st Place Family Team in Mercer County! Woo hoo! Amazing job everyone - thank you so much for all your hard work for the March of Dimes!

Birthday party pics!

Here are just a sampling of the many, many wonderful pictures from Charlie and Lily's first birthday party. Thank you to Jen at The Photo Kitchen for doing such an amazing job with them. The party was just perfect - thank you to everyone who helped make it so great!


Charlie was ready to party!
Lily didn't realize that on her birthday she would get to eat REAL cupcakes, and not just the cute origami ones that cousin Michael made.
Birthday balloons. Just a few of the thoughtful gifts Charlie and Lily received from their fantastic family and friends.
It was super hot at the park, but Charlie didn't mind taking a few minutes to cool off. Sparkles the Clown was on hand to paint faces and entertain the kids with songs and games.
We were beyond thrilled that so many of Charlie and Lily's incredible NICU nurses were able to join us for the party. It was wonderful to see them all again and it meant so much to us to have them there.
Charlie catching on on snuggles with his daytime primary nurse, Carolyn. Our little family, with so much to celebrate!
The theme of the party was "cupcakes," so of course we had to have a big spread of them for dessert!
Time for cake!

"Um...what are we supposed to do with these?"

"Oooh, I think I figured it out!"
"Here Nana, you try some!"
Charlie is even more irresistible when he's covered in frosting. "This party was FUN! When can we do it again?!?!"
All cleaned up and visiting with their great-grandparents Lucy and Freddie before heading home to rest (and open presents!).