January was so good to us this year! There were lots of warm weather days for us to walk and play outside. The kids also got two new baby girl cousins that we can’t wait to meet! And finally, Elodie turned three!!!

I started keeping a notebook of things the kids do and say, and in just one month I can see how much Elodie has grown! Her sentences are getting longer, and she is becoming more outgoing (shaking hands at the sign of peace during church). She is also trying to outsmart us. During her birthday photoshoot, I asked her to please look at me, and she started looking all around, up and down, everywhere *but* at me.

Elodie and her brother are getting really good at playing together/by themselves, but when Elodie wants my attention, she puts her face right in front of mine and says ‘look at me.’

Milo loves to pull himself up to the couch, but is afraid of sitting down. This sometimes makes going down for naps tricky. He’ll stand up in protest, and then will keep ‘protesting’ because he’s stuck standing instead of laying down snuggling his favorite blanket.

December was sure eventful! Milo turned one, we were evacuated from our home for two nights due to the Legion Lake fire, and Christmas!

Milo did great for his first out-of-the-house photo shoot with mama. He loves to point/show he’s one, he got his eight tooth just after his first birthday and is already working on his molars. It feels like he is never not teething. He has started to crawl on his hands and knees and *loves* to pull himself up to stand. The pasta/canned goods cupboard is his favorite to raid. Anytime music is playing, he will dance and wiggle and point and wave and clap.

Elodie is talking constantly. The only time it’s quiet around here is when she’s in her room for nap/quiet time. Her new obsession with Doc McStuffins has us all getting checkups every day and writing down her “dinosis (diagnosis)” in her “big book of moo moos (boo boos)” and then we “feel so much better now.” Whenever she watches an episode, she says “tuggle me peas (snuggle me please)” and I can’t resist. She can say the names of all her grandparents, but my favorite Elodie-ism is when she wants to do “sup more else (something else).”

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas, and have a great last weekend of 2017! :-)

It’s not very often that I even try to take a photo of Elodie and Milo together. This is why:

Allowing them to play with a stuffed animal was the only way they could stay focused long enough to get a half-decent photo. But then again I kinda love how excited Elodie is to balance the kitty on Milo’s head, and Milo is being so tolerant of her shenanigans. #siblinglove

This month, Elodie is saying sentences with up to 4-6 words! My favorite phrases are:

“GUYS” when Lance and I are having a conversation that doesn’t include her.

“Ahh, so nice.” when I wiped the snot off her nose.

“Thank you, ma” whenever I ask her to please do something. “Elodie, can you please put your plate in the dishwasher?” “Thank you, ma!”

“Too hot? Juss white (just right)?” asking about the food on her plate.

She loves to play puzzle and watch ‘Doc show’ (Doc Mcstuffins) when Milo is sleeping. She also really enjoys window clings and painting and Play Doh.

Milo is turning into a little love bug. If I am laying on the floor, he will crawl over to give me a snuggle – resting his head on my chest or leg. When strangers (anyone he hasn’t seen in over a week) approach, he’ll wrap his arms around us and snuggle in real close.  He can bark like a dog (high pitched squeak with a whole body twitch), and snort like a pig. When I’m putting his socks on, he will lift his foot up in the air for me. He loves to hand over his toys and then hold his hand out to ask for them back.

We are enjoying a nice, mild fall! It’s so nice to be able to take the kids out to enjoy some fresh air!

Nice, warm weather days are slipping away, and we are already spending most of our time in front of the fireplace, scrambling to keep the kids entertained during those non-daylight hours before bedtime. If Elodie sees that it’s dark outside, she’ll say, “oh, no, night night” and I’m all “do you want to go to bed?” At 6:30. Because apparently the ‘shorter’ the days get, the ‘longer’ the days feel.

But enough whining about losing sunlight and the warmth it brings!

Elodie and Milo are entertaining each other more and more. After his last well child checkup, she found this small piece of internet cable and proceeded to give him at-home checkups. I knew right away that it would be a perfect Halloween costume for them with all that Milo has been through this year. :-)

Milo is still army crawling all over, and he loves to sneak away to Elodie’s room to find the fan that’s plugged in, or to the kitchen to find crumbs. It feels like he has been teething for *forever.* He now has four bottom teeth and one on the top, with at least one more on the way (although it’s impossible to tell until they’ve officially poked through.)

His favorite activity is scooting around the recliner and playing peek-a-boo from behind it. He is also very interested in the tiny chips of wood that falls off between carrying in wood and putting it in the fireplace. I’ve dug out a few pieces of bark as well as a fly. Uck. I’m very much ready for the whole ‘put everything in the mouth’ phase to be over.

Elodie’s new most-used phrase is ‘thank you’ and it’s probably my favorite. Although ‘luff you, ma’ still melts my heart!!

September is always a favorite thanks to open-windows weather, our anniversary, and new this year: fresh produce!

Milo quickly switched from shaking his head ‘no’ to clapping and doing ‘so big.’ We love that we can sit him in the middle of the room, leave, come back, and find him still sitting in the middle of the room. If he’s on his tummy, he will quickly army-crawl over to the door stop or nearest book. Everything still goes in his mouth, and his third tooth has finally poked through.

Elodie is continuing to add to her vocabulary and even putting small sentences together. “Off go, bye house.” “Oh, mom.” “Love you, da.” She is getting the hang of her tricycle, but still likes a push to get going. ‘Bat ball’ is a favorite outside game, although she has different ideas every day of how to play.

We celebrated our fifth anniversary with a quiet day at home and it was wonderful. No work, no errands, just naps and walks and meals together. And playing with the kids, of course.

Our ‘new’ house (can you believe it’s been a year now since we moved?!) has an apple tree, and we also planted a few vegetables. We now have a freezer full of sliced apples (thanks to my parents for their help), and we are very tired of eating green beans for a while. :-)