10 Months Old :: Vacationing, Crawling, and Playing

September has been a wonderful month for us!

We went on our first family vacation to the ocean and it was marvelous! For the sake of simplicity, we decided to go to the little shoreline town where I grew up. Our little cottage was walking distance from the beach and was perfect for us.

Papu and Yaya were visiting from California, and we enjoyed having fried clams for dinner and a walk by the water. We'd love to see them more often!

Early in the week, Gram Gram came down and visited for the day. Sophia and Ethan had a great time playing with Gram Gram! During our first trip to the beach, we learned that both Sophia and Ethan loved splashing in the water and eating sand. We fully expected them to try a little sand, but had no idea they'd love it so much! It was a mixed blessing when the weather got cool during the middle of the week and we decided to walk on the beach instead of sitting on it.

We also learned that Sophia and Ethan love to eat out. We went to dinner early (around 5pm) and so there were a lot of grandparents in the restaurant who enjoyed playing with the kids. Sophia and Ethan just basked in the limelight, and we're still not sure who was more entertained - our kids or the other folks at the restaurant! In any case, we all had such a great time that we ate out often.

We decided to unplug for the week (no cell phones, no computers), so we also played games and cards and read books and talked. One night after the kids were asleep, Steve and I had fun drinking whiskey and smoking cigars under the stars. What fun!

Sophia is now crawling slowly on her hands and knees and pulling up. Ethan is pulling up and is getting ready to crawl on his hands and knees, too. With all of their new found mobility, they are getting into everything - which is both fun to watch and keeping us watchful!

Some pictures...

Before vacation, our friend Ginger got a great shot of Ethan...
Sophia learns to type with Dad-Dad...After baths, Steve dries Sophia's hair so she doesn't get cold...

Ethan and Mum-Mum...Sophia crawls through the door of the house while Ethan looks on...
Sophia up on all fours!
The playgroup... From the top - Maya, Amalia, Sophia, Tommy, Ethan, and Emery. We didn't stage this - the kids just lined up! :)
The cottage...Living room at the cottage
Kitchen at the cottage...

Steph holding Sophia, Papu, and Yaya holding Ethan...Yaya with Ethan, Papu, Steph with Sophia...


Steph, Sophia, Steve, and EthanEthan and Sophia enjoyed Papu's sense of humor... they thought he was funny. So did Yaya!
Gram Gram sang and played with Ethan and Sophia...
Sophia's first bite of sand...Mmmm.... gritty...Sophia-sandy-beard...

Ethan examines the sand...
...and picks some up...
"It's kinda crunchy..."Mmmmm....
Sophia playing at the cottage...
Ethan was fascinated by the coffee table at the cottage. He had great fun putting toys on the little shelf and then taking them off again...
good friends Alexis and Craig had a baby boy last year and named him Jarvis - so when we passed Jarvis Road we thought we'd take a picture in honor of them...Steve plays with Ethan and Sophia...
Steve walking the beach with Sophia...
Ethan Pepper loved the beach...Sophia Plum looks out at the ocean...
Going home wasn't easy... We had such a wonderful time on vacation!Our weekly mothers of twins group is only for new moms. Once the babies become toddlers (really crawling around, pulling up, and getting into things) you "graduate". Our friends Maya, and Joshua are at that point, so I took a picture of them with their mom, Jessica on their last day. Hopefully Sophia, Ethan, and I will last another few weeks or so!
The play group - Elin, Amalia, Ethan, Wes, Sophia, and Charlie.Sophia managed to get her hands on our wipes. She had great fun pulling all of the wipes out of the little bin. She was so happy and proud of herself! :)

Nine and Three Weeks :: On the Move!

Where has the time gone? I have a new freelance job that's keeping me very busy lately, so I'm a little behind on blogging! Even so, I was surprised to open up our blog and notice that it's been 3 weeks since our last post!

Sophia and Ethan are getting increasingly mobile. The big news is that Sophia has started to creep forward on her elbows and knees today. Only a matter of time before she's crawling - she's already pulling herself up to standing without help. Ethan is still rolling to what he wants to see and is still working on pulling up by himself - he's been busy getting more teeth and talking.

Which leads me to the other big news -- Ethan started saying "Mum-mum" when he sees me. He then started saying "Da-da" when Steve came home from work. Soon after, Sophia started doing the same, although she started with "Da-da".

Their favorite games these days are peek-a-boo and taking balls out of a cup and then putting them back into the cup. They also really enjoy the Eensy Weensy Spider song and wiggle their fingers when they hear it.

Ethan and Sophia both LOVE reading. While Sophia is content to just listen, Ethan enjoys turning the pages of the book when I read to him. I just ask him to please turn the page and he reaches out and does that for me. Ethan also loves pointing to and "feeling" the pictures in the book. I've been letting them hold board books - it's amazing to me how much they know - that the book should be held upright, that you take the right page and put it over to the left to move on through the book, and that when you're done you close the book. Seems like a lot to me.

Ethan continues to get more teeth - his fourth one is coming in and he's chewing on everything - including his high chair tray! It's pretty funny to watch... Recently, Sophia decided that chewing on the high chair tray is a good idea, too!

Last, both Sophia and Ethan have figured out how to crawl out of their bouncy seats. They grip the side of the seat and then pull themselves over onto their bellies. Then they scooch themselves down off the bottom edge of the seat. Genius, really - very slow and safe.

Grandma Chrisanne came to visit a few Saturdays ago. Steve, Chrisanne, Sophia and Ethan had a great time catching up and playing on the rug. I took some time to make a bunch of baby food and cook two sweet potato pies for our church potluck the following day.

Steve's 39th birthday was on August 26th, so the kids and I threw him a little party. We had cake and balloons. Sophia and Ethan had their first-ever cake and they loved it!

Last weekend I went by myself to Aunt Jo-Ann's house for a little R&R. I left after the kids went to sleep on Friday, and came back home late Saturday afternoon. It was my first night away from the kids since they came home from the hospital. While I missed them, I also enjoyed the time to myself and the visit with Aunt Jo-Ann and Cindy. The three of us stayed up talking. We got to bed around 10pm or so. I still woke up early, but when I did wake up I laid in bed and read a book. A book! :) I finally got out of bed around 10am, had breakfast, and then went for a long walk in the woods with Aunt Jo-Ann. It was marvelous to walk and catch up with her! To top it off, Cindy and I went to the farm stand near their house and picked up fresh corn, butternut squash and green beans (for the kids). I took a little nap before leaving and returned home feeling refreshed. It's Steve's turn next time, and both of us are grateful to have a place to go to rest and recharge.

This past week we went to visit the Bunn boys (my friend Ginger has triplets). We had fun eating lunch picnic-style on their kitchen floor, playing on their sun porch and catching up.

Yesterday we headed out to Sudbury for the kick-off to the mothers of twins fall play groups. I enjoyed meeting some moms of twins for the first time. Both Sophia and Ethan enjoyed sitting outside, crawling around, and eating a few wood chips also. I think I caught most of the wood chips, but have a feeling that some may have slipped by. A little more fiber in their diet? Yuck.

After the play group kick-off we headed over to Aunt Jo-Ann's for lunch. She made an amazing warm pasta salad with feta and spinach. It was great to see her again. Sophia and Ethan had lunch picnic-style again (we're getting good at that!), and then had fun exploring until it was nap time. Ethan fell asleep and slept for awhile on Aunt Jo-Ann. :)

We're spending the day today just catching up and getting ready for our first family vacation. We've rented a little house on the shore in Connecticut (the town I grew up in) from 9/13 to 9/20. We're all looking forward to unplugging and relaxing for a week. Can't wait! Papu and Yaya are going to be in town from California and Gram Gram is coming down for the day also. Will be fun!

Sophia getting out of her bouncy seat...
Ethan getting out of his bouncy seat...
Helping Mum-mum with the laundry...
Ethan and Sophia reading...
Ethan loves books!
Sophia enjoys a story...
Ethan and Sophia reading...

Ethan, Sophia, and Grandma Chrisanne
Ethan, Sophia, and Grandma Chrisanne
Ethan, Sophia, and Grandma Chrisanne
Steve's birthday party with his favorite cake - a homemade orange bundt cake with confectioners sugar sprinkled on top.
Sophia and Ethan try their first cake...
Sophia enjoyed her first cake. The battery on our camera died before we could get a picture of Ethan...
Visiting at Aunt Jo-Ann's house. Sophia enjoyed playing with the foot stool.


Ethan thought the coffee table made a great place to play - he's never had a "ceiling" low enough to touch...
Aunt Jo-Ann, Ethan, and Sophia...
Aunt Jo-Ann gave me a couple pictures of me when I was about Sophia's age. This one is of me at about a year. I was surprised to see how much Sophia looks like me!
Me at about 7 months...
Ethan sleeping on Aunt Jo-Ann...

08.19.08 :: Sophia and Ethan climb out of their bouncy seats


08.23.08 :: Sophia and Ethan playing with Grandma Chrisanne


08.23.08 :: Ethan chewing on his high chair tray…and Sophia looking on in amazement…


09.06.08 :: Sophia creeping forward!