11 Weeks and counting

We feel lucky to be the parents of the two cutest girls in the world! :-)

Here are the updates, from what's been going on around here. Aspen is smiling more and more, she smiles for all of us, but has been especially grin-y to the cute baby in the mirror above her swing.



Aspen holds her head up pretty well now, but is still struggling with reflux, so we don't do a lot of tummy time because it usually ends in a regurgitated-milk mess. She's sleeping like an angel, knock on wood. She loves to chew on her fist, especially her left knuckles, which I thought was something completely new for our family, and then I went back and looked at some old blog posts and realized Sabine was doing the exact same thing at the exact same age: click HERE.

Aspen's last feeding is around 9:30-10:00 PM and then she usually sleeps through until close to 5:00 AM. If she gets up, it's usually because she has gas or one of the cats startled her. We still have her sleeping in our room in a Rock-n-Play, but she's getting bigger quickly so I don't think that will last much longer. And during the day, we manage to get out and about to run errands and see friends, like M, who was born 13 days before Aspen.



We hope they will grow up to be good buds!

The big news in Sabine's world is that she's starting to read! She's been going through a big growth spurt, we noticed she was eating more and her sleep has been disrupted (just to get up to go to the bathroom, or an occasional nightmare, but she usually goes back to sleep pretty well) again. So it was not surprising to find her brain was also in overdrive, something clicked and she has started sounding out whole words. One of her favorite things to read right now is her placemat that has a map of the United States on it. We're combining reading and geography! Very academic meals these days.



We also went to a fundraiser for Sabine's preschool over the weekend. Sabine had a great time with her friends, getting face paint and balloon sculptures and listening to the music. Sadly, we didn't win anything at the silent auction, but it was still fun supporting the preschool that we love so much.



We've had a lot of ladybugs appear, and fortunately Sabine is very keen on them, so we often go out to collect a few off the front porch.



Sabine and I also went out for mommy & me pedicures, and we had a blast together. We haven't gotten much alone time since Aspen's arrival, so it was a special treat for both of us, although we missed daddy and Aspen and were happy to come back home, too.



They even painted Sabine's nails and decorated her toe and thumb with a flower. Sabine insisted I take a picture, so voila:



We also swung by the florist/greenhouse this weekend to get some geraniums for our window box. Sabine likes flower stores as much as I do, and enjoyed running across their display bridge and cabana. She also picked out some Forget-Me-Nots seeds and a green pot, so we'll see how those do on our front porch.