Here, there and everywhere!

These last few days, Charlie and Lily have been very, very busy babies! They've just started doing so many new things that it's hard to keep up. Here's the recap:

- Charlie feeds himself! Lily has been doing it for awhile now, and while I believe that Charlie has been able to do it for just as long, he seemed to just prefer to let Joe and I put the food in his mouth and never really made any effort to pick things up himself. But the other day, out of nowhere, Charlie just started picking up anything and everything from his high chair try and shoving it in his mouth. Waffle, pancake, veggie burger, grilled cheese - you name it, he's feeding it to himself like a champ. He even gets a little too enthusiastic at times - yesterday he started to gag during lunch and when I reached in his mouth I pulled out FOUR pieces of grilled cheese. I have no idea how he got them all in there so quickly, since I was sitting in front of him the entire time. But he loves his table food!

- Both babies climb the stairs! Eeek! Before now they've never even gone close to the steps, but yesterday I was upstairs and when I walked down the steps Charlie was sitting near the bottom. He was grinning at me and I was calling down to him and laughing. All of this must have alerted Miss Lily to the existence of the steps, because less than 10 minutes later there she was, scaling the bottom step. Charlie quickly joined in the fun and both made it up two steps (with Joe and I standing with them!) all on their own. Needless to say, we now have chairs blocking the steps and a gate on the way. Plus Joe and I spent most of today baby-proofing everything - toilet lock, cabinet locks, padding for sharp corners, etc. They are into everything!

- Lily has hair! Yay! It's finally starting to come in and it's all soft and spiky and cute. It looks like she and Charlie are going to have the same color hair.

- The babies are almost standing on their own! Both Charlie and Lily can stand up with almost no assistance - just holding on to the sleeve of my t-shirt is enough to get them up. And Lily has let go of whatever she's holding on to several times and balanced on her own for a good 10 seconds.

- Teasing Mommy! So far Charlie's only word is "Dada." He has this deep, gruff voice and it's so funny to hear him say it. But it is the only word he says, so when I ask him to "Say Mama," he responds with the only word he knows, which is of course "Dada." And Joe and I always laugh. At some point, Lily (who can say "Mama") realized that we found Charlie funny, so now when I say to Lily, "Say Mama," she looks right at me, gets this wicked grin on her face and says, "Dada." So naughty!

"You can't make me say "Mama" when I get so many laughs from "Dada!"
"Hey! What's the big idea taping these drawers shut?!!?"
Even though they eat their own big breakfasts, Charlie and Lily can't resist mooching my Greek yogurt.
This past weekend we had a play date in the park with Ethan, a 23 weeker who was Charlie's NICU isolation roommate. The boys had a great time reconnecting with each other.
And had a great time trying to steal snacks of one another.
We spent last Sunday, the one-year anniversary of Annaleigh's passing, as a family. We wanted to give Charlie and Lily a day they could really enjoy, while honoring Annaleigh's life. The day started with Joe picking up a special after-breakfast treat of a glazed munchkin for each baby. Needless to say, those didn't last long. After morning nap we met up with Grandma and Grandpa for brunch. Later, while the babies took their afternoon nap, Joe went over to the cemetery and built a flower garden at Annaleigh's headstone. When Charlie and Lily woke up, the four of us went back to the cemetery to see the garden, and Charlie and Lily each released a balloon into the sky for their sister. When we got home, Joe read Personal Penguin by Sandra Boynton (we used the verses from that book on Annaleigh's prayer card at her memorial service). Finally, after dinner, Joe ran out and got the babies a vanilla ice cream cone to share. It was a peaceful and nice day.

On Tuesday Charlie and Lily got a visit from their Great-Aunt Diane and cousin Adam. When they first came home from the NICU, Diane bought Charlie and Lily the cutest hooded towels - a princess one for Lily and a duck for Charlie. We've used those towels so much that they now have holes in them and are unravelling, so Diane brought new towels for the babies. Lily is, of course, still a princess, but Charlie became a lion this time around.
"That's about all! See you next time!"

Thank you to everyone for all the wonderful, kind comments about Annaleigh. It means so much to us see over and over how many lives she's touched and how many people out there truly care about her to this day.