this is claire every time charlie is trying to eat.
she climbs up his chair to get close and try to grab his sippy cup.
if ellie hadn’t still been in her highchair she would have been on the other side.
these two girls love, love, LOVE their big brother!
and this is what it is like when she falls. she acts like its no big deal and just crawls out and starts over.
both eleanore and claire can take 3-4 steps independently. they will usually only do this if they are holding some object in their hands and when they are going between 2 things (couch, bench, etc) or to me or someone else. they don’t fall forward like charlie did – instead they are so well balanced they just slowly squat down if they are getting nervous. I am hopeful that when they do eventually walk they will be well balanced, safe walkers.
claire has all of her top toofers through. ellie’s has 2 poking through, but not as much showing as claire.
charlie and ellie were giggling like crazy together.
I love when charlie is sweet and loving with eleanore and claire.
the girls fighting for a prime piece of a real estate on charlie’s car bench. he spends most of his day playing on this bench when we are home and the girls try with all their might to play next to him. I spend most of my day trying to keep him from asking for my help with the girls when they are trying to attack his stuff versus just pushing them when they get in the way. he really tries, but sometimes he just acts like a 2 (almost 3) year old.
my mom came to help for the weekend because bill had to go to vegas for a conference. when she arrived we snapped some pictures of nana with the girls.
nana & claire.
eleanore showing off her clapping.
this is blurry, but shows claire being pumped up.
and another crazy face from claire.
the kids loved playing cars with nana like this. she is so good at encouraging playing together.
continuing with claire’s goofing theme. my mom and I found her standing in her car seat while it was rocking trying to chew on the handle. ellie was actually standing next to her before I took this picture (I imagine saying “be careful claire…”). claire was so proud of herself.
claire with a block in her mouth. I love this picture. she can be such a ham!
you could say she is into putting things into her mouth.
on saturday, my mom and I took the crew to the pool. I had a friend who was out of the pool snap this picture with my phone.
what a fun weekend we had mom! thanks for coming to help!
in other news, eleanore has also picked up the climbing habit and is standing up and down without assistance. I love watching her conquer new skills. she is so proud.
after the girls wake up from their naps in the afternoon I am giving them a mum mum cracker to munch on. they love it and they cruise around chatting, catching up on the time they were apart and munching. I often like to think they are having a little tea party together – especially when I found them like this the other day.
eleanore pulled her head back just as I grabbled the camera, but they were so cute. standing on either side of the chair babbling and smacking together.
eleanore’s view.
claire’s view.
here are some more of their antics. claire loved pushing this laundry bin.
then ellie came over to join in on the fun.
and down goes prabee.
both trying to break and enter the chemical cabinet. claire is even trying to climb up the cabinet!
claire are you supposed to be climbing up that?
what mom?
ellie is still holding tight to some object. these past couple weeks it has been a s&p shaker from the kitchen set downstairs. she always has something in each hand as she goes about her day.
the bookshelf is still a daily – make that hourly – battle. I am really close to just caving and putting it in the office for a few months.
claire loves pushing the lawn mower. she is so funny about her walking. she loves to push things or stand and sit independently, but she does not like when you help her walk. fine with me. I hope she doesn’t walk for a few more months.
speaking of claire standing. she loves and I mean loves to just grab something and stand up unassisted. she does it all day long. then when she gets off balance or wants to go somewhere she just drops to the ground and crawls off. here a series of her standing.
ellie loving her fake tantrums.
loving playing with charlie’s cars while he is still sleeping during his afternoon nap.
they are both getting all their top teeth. check out the drool.
I just love eleanore’s little puffed out lip.
these two girls fill my life with such joy!
the kiddos have been sick. poor claire fell asleep in the office while I was putting ellie down for nap. ellie had actually fallen asleep the previous day in the office while I was putting claire down. besides these two incidents none of our kids have ever fallen asleep while playing. obviously, the girls were sick so that is why they fell asleep, but it was still really sweet to see them crashed out.
c lined up some cars.
eleanore gets a hold of the garbage can. yuck! (claire does it too – so gross)
I came home from a weekend workout to 3 kids who were actually happy to see me.
practicing charlie’s smile.
we had our friend’s the barlows over for an afternoon.
sibling love.
eleanore got her first mole.
driving cars – ellie.
charlie is enjoying some craft time.
with our illnesses we have been home a lot. to keep things interesting we had to change it up and playing with snow in the bathtub was good entertainment for the honey badgers and fun for charlie.
both girls love pushing charlie’s CAT truck around. ellie insists on holding a little ball in one hand. if you take it away she acts like she just lost a limb.
more proof of her attachment to these little balls. the purple one is from a friend’s house. when we got home I found it in her car seat.
claire is a future rock climber. she literally tries to scale anything in her path. here she is climbing up the end table. she flipped into the tub last night while we were running the bath. I have also caught her half way up our dining room chairs (feet off the ground) and up on top of the CAT truck. I predict an accident in our near future.
another shot of feeding the dynamic duo.
we are thankful for nana & g.pops who came to help out while bill is in miami beach for a conference. while they are here charlie started playing “the chasing” game with g. pops. he LOVES it! he runs around the island and when he comes through the sitting area of our living room my dad jumps out and tackles him. they were both breaking a sweat.
another action shot.
mid tackle
assessing a bonk. I think in this picture he bonked his head with his knee. he would brush off any bonk like it was no big deal even though I think some of them really hurt because then he could get back to the game.
I love these action shots. charlie continued to say “I like this chasing game g. pops” or “can we do more running g. pops?” or “thank you g. pops. I love you.” it was precious.
g. pops are you tired??
on top of taking charlie skiing today, my dad also sheet rocked and plastered under our stairs yesterday. it looks fantastic and we really appreciate it dad! charlie had a blast skiing and was exhausted (as you can see in the pic).
the girls love being near people. if you are standing up cooking they will both crawl over to your legs and climb up and hold on for dear life so you are basically stuck. today I was just trying to put my hair up and they could not give me a bit of space. my mom was able to snap a quick shot.
no relief. but I have to admit I love how much they want to be near me. they definitely enjoy having mom in an arm’s reach.
do you think my mom was busy? here she is trying to chat with my brother danny, read to charlie, keep claire from flipping off her lap and keep ellie entertained by her foot. prior to this picture ellie was actually holding onto her leg.
so that is what we have been up to these past couple weeks. a lot of boogers, whining, coughing, but also a whole lotta love.
