trip to the store

i took both girls to the grocery store today by myself for the first time. it was actually 100 times better than i thought it would be. hannah was excited to sit in the buggy with libby, and libby loved staring at all the bright lights and colorful food. when we were in the produce section i asked hannah what fruit or vegetable she wanted. she said chocolate. ME TOO, hannah. if chocolate were a vegetable i might just be the healthiest person on the planet.

a perfect moment

i had a moment today where i was feeling kind of down. i was in the middle of cooking dinner and hannah and libby both were in the kitchen with me, both talking and making noise. when i came out of my own thoughts and tuned into what was happening around me and realized that it really doesn't get any better than this. hannah was singing her own invented song and hula hooping, libby was in her exersaucer staring at hannah and talking to her as loudly as she could (about wanting said hula hoop, no doubt. she wants EVERYthing her big sister has.). i just had to soak all that in. it may sound like a simple every day kind of thing, but i know that those are the times i really need to stop and try to enjoy and remember.

here's some pics from another great moment today. i had the girls in hannah's bed and was reading to them, when hannah thought it would be fun for libby to lay on top of her.

7 months

dear tim (a public fathers day note)

one of the many reasons i married you was because i knew you'd be a great father. what i didn't know (what no one ever knows) was how hard being a parent would be. we've had our challenges in learning how to work together to raise our girls. but you are the only person i'd want to be doing all this with. in our 8 years i've seen you change and grow, and i'm so proud of you - who you were, who you are, who you will be. you are a kind and loyal man and i'm lucky to have you as my best friend. thank you for all you do for us, we love you!

everything is magical

the best part of having kids is seeing the world through their eyes, right? i wish things like a simple game of peek-a-boo or the mystery of what's behind the cabinet (just dishes, by the way) thrilled me the way they thrill libby. seeing her eyes light up and her legs kick in excitement when i open the fridge (she loves to grab at a certain bottle of mustard. mustard!) or walk past something new in the house (hey! that piece of mail wasn't there yesterday!) is so much fun.

she got her second bottom tooth sunday. it's weird because although the first one came in two weeks ago they're both about the same size. she's also getting on her knees much more now when we put her on her belly. problem is she mostly goes backwards. she'll have it figured out soon enough. she's also learned how to wave and she does it randomly sometimes. today i opened the door and she started waving. um, brilliant?!

sticks and stones (...or mattresses and pillows?)

last weekend we went to the beach. while we were in the hotel room, tim was playing with hannah and throwing her on the bed, as dads do, and she caught herself on her arm in a way that fractured her elbow. poor hannah was in pain and kept saying her arm hurt, when she is usually so quick to bounce back, so she took a trip to the emergency room and got her arm wrapped up. here she is the next morning showing off her x-ray, which she was very proud of:

we had to take her to a doctor here wednesday and she got a cast put on. she will be in it for 6 loooooong weeks. but i have to say she has been a really brave girl and still wants to do everything herself - even though lots of things are challenging with only one working arm.

in libby news, she is doing just great. she continues to try to crawl, and can get up on her knees for a few seconds at a time. she has actually taken a 2-hour nap each morning for the past few days, which is a huge improvement! i really hope her ears stay un-infected (that's a word, right?) and we can get on a normal sleeping schedule.

it's hot

okay, it's officially summer. it is really really hot. but the good part is that we don't have any schedule, we are on cottrell time. we don't have to get hannah to school at a certain time, or be ready to pick her up, and we plan on taking advantage of that with plenty of lazy days mixed in with trips to the park, and maybe a day trip to the zoo and some other fun things. yesterday we had a great summer day. we played outside and washed the car, then we came inside to cool off. i was dreaming about ice cream until i saw our neighbor hauling a watermelon inside his house. then i remembered the watermelon my dad sent home with us. it was a perfect snack.

visit to granny and grandpa's

we got to visit my parents' new house over memorial day weekend. it was such a great trip, we had a lot of fun together, mainly playing in their really nice backyard. i think i could stay out there all day everyday - and so could hannah.

...and newer tricks

over the past couple of weeks i've seen a lot of growth and change in libby.

she can really get around. i will put her on her belly on the floor while i do a few things around the house, and by the time i get back around to her a few minutes later i will find her on the opposite end of the floor. she's not crawling, but she can turn in a circle and she scoots around like a little worm. i've seen her try to get on her knees so i'm sure it won't be long now.

she gets very excited when she sees something she likes, and if we're holding her, she'll kick her legs and dive for it.

she smiles with her whole face, with her mouth wide open. i LOVE it. she has a sense of humor now, and will anticipate things that are funny - like if she sees my hand coming to tickle her. and she's a big fan of peek-a-boo.

pretty sure she's been giving me kisses. she will put her open mouth right up to my cheek. there is nothing sweeter than that.

she is noticing new things around the house. i got a box in the mail yesterday and put it on the counter. and every time we've walked past it she's gotten excited and reached out for it.

this has been happening for about a month or so - when she is upset and crying we have heard her cry "momma." it gets me every time. there will be no crying it out for libby. it's the saddest thing i've ever heard.

last friday night we could not get her to go to sleep. not until 10. she wasn't particularly fussy, just wouldn't sleep, no matter what. sunday night, same thing happened but she did seem to be in some pain. i put my finger in her mouth and found a tooth on her lower front gum!

she's continuing her exploration of new foods. i think bananas are her favorite so far - those were hannah's favorites too. she also likes apples. we gave her some watermelon a few days ago and she liked sucking on that. she doesn't really get excited about the food like hannah did, though. got her a high chair to sit at the table and we try to have dinner together every night when we can. the first time she sat in it, she was thrilled to be up there with all of us.

i think she could pretty much entertain herself most of the day if i kept her with a supply of rotating toys. of course i don't do that, but i'm just saying - she's a really sweet baby.