Theo's Monthly Birthday Photos

1 month

Already watching everything Lukas does!

2 months

Smiling a lot! (Also screaming and crying a lot...)

3 months

Lots of giggles - especially when Lukas lays on top of him!

4 months

Holding and playing with toys, loves facing outside in his stand up play gym thingy

5 months

We gave into his begging for solid foods, he is delighted.

6 months

Our early sitter! Very pleased with his new view on the world.

7 months

Some pterodactyl screeches are being replaced by babbles. Oranges are the favorite food. Starting to stand at the train table, trying to swipe the battery train.

8 months

Starting to scoot!! I usually carry him like a basketball under one arm; he starts on the hip but wiggles down to flying position in seconds. Now ingesting more food, meat and cheese are the favorites.

9 months

Still dragging his belly but moving from room to room. Pulling himself up to a stand, but not too quickly or often. Likes to pretend to grab things from Lukas to get a rise out of him, but they mostly really like each other and laugh together. Books are a new wonderful thing, and Theo has started turning the pages. In other what-he-can-do-with-his-hands news: clapping! (but only when he thinks you're not looking).

10 Months

Theo's favorite toys are sound puzzles! Lift the knob of the wooden cat, replace it and it meows - who wouldn't love that? He has gotten off his belly and is scooting like Lukas used to, faster all the time. He rushes to the open fridge, dishwasher, doors to stairs and toilet for investigations. He mostly wants applesauce and bananas, veggies are on the out-and-out.

11 Months

Theo still loves his sound puzzles, but also really tries to put (duplo) legos together. So much work to try to catch up to Lukas! He loves crawling up the stairs and sliding like a penguin down them. He loves to stand at the coffee table and pull out blocks from the drawer. He tries to stack them, disperse them, and (sometimes) put them back. He tries to play roll/catch with a ball and pushes cars on their wheels. He is broadening his horizons with food again, liking most anything, especially if we help him shovel it in as he is VERY hungry. We also seem to be coming out of a sleep slump, so perhaps he's had a growth spurt? Here he's featuring Lukas' punjabi from Hanna's wedding :)

12 months

As we enjoy more time outside, Theo is trying to decide whether dirt tastes good. He is also climbing on everything he can, up the stairs and trying to figure out down-the-stairs. He plunges head-first off the couch onto a pillow while giggling, and does the same off the bed without a pillow and without a giggle, but also without complaint. He's a man on a mission. Another new thing this month: anything that looks or acts like a ball is the favorite. Roll it, chase it, push it around with his head while he does his 3.0 (normal) crawl. He finally got his first tooth a week before his birthday and this morning I saw a second had poked through, hence sucking on his finger in this party shot!

2 years

3 years

4 years

5 years

6 years

7 years
with "Dot"

Frida's Monthly Birthday Photos

1 Month

Sleeping, eating, and watching those fascinating brothers.

2 Months

Lots of smiling and crying!

3 Months

Her big trick this month is that she learned how to sleep without the swaddle! I kept the boys swaddled longer, but it was just TOO HOT to do that to her. So the bunny occupies those busy hands as she drifts off...  When she wakes up she's up on her elbows looking around with those big eyes. Another trick I've just seen two times: laughing!!

4 Months

Rolling, rolling, rolling! both ways, before 4 months. Our lightest baby is also our earliest mover :) Also more laughing (especially at Lukas). Starting to hold on to things.

5 Months

Sitting up in her exersaucer thingy, talking more all the time, awake longer, sleeping longer, getting closer to a schedule... playing with toys and seeming to interact with them.

6 Months

Frida is starting to sit up all by herself! But no photo of that yet... she is also delighted to be eating more than just milk. She has started yogurt and that seems to be fine after the 2 month scare of blood in the pooh and subsequent mandate of no dairy for Mama. She laughs at and studies her brothers harder than ever. Her happy screams have officially placed our family's collective noise into the "circus" category. Poor thing has a cold on her 1/2 birthday.

7 Months

Right around the time she turned 7 months Frida went from topsy turvy to sitting up by herself on a hard floor for long stretches. She loves food more than ever. She is feeding herself more than we are from pureed bottles. She pretended she was weaning herself from the milk for about a week but then realized she didn't like that idea. Lukas is still the most likely to make her laugh, but Theo is a close second. She is starting to rock on her hands and knees (but this is more frequent at the 7.5 month rather than 7 month). Perhaps we should move her out of the bassinet soon, but she still so enjoys the rocking motion of its cradle feature. From birth, like her brothers, outside is her favorite place to be.

8 Months

Lots of laughing at her brothers, playing contentedly, and lots of eating. She likes almost everything we like, plus the delicious baby sauce jars. She like dahl baht, rice and beans, perfectly cooked broccoli and beans (but not if not perfect - just like the boys!), peas - frozen or microwaved, EVERY fruit, especially berries and bananas only when they're the perfect amount of ripeness, MEAT. She LOVES meat - red meat, white meat, smoked, fishy, fried, um hm. We love you Frida!!

9 Months

Frida has been busy. At 8.5 months she got 4 teeth and started to crawl. It's been sleep torture at night!!! But we are excited for you to be doing all these wonderful things, Frida! Yesterday at her 9 month doctor check-up Frida clapped for the doctor when she said "yay" about her growth. She has gone from the 40% in weight to the 60%!! She has been waving her hands, especially when we sing, but that was the first clap. Also, now that she is crawling and well on her way to a mouth full of teeth, she is laughing again. She smiled all month as usual, but had taken a break from the belly laugh. 

10 Months

Lots of speedy crawling! 8 teeth! Mama finally allowed her to wean herself (the 8 teeth may have been involved...). Busy busy busy. Frida started getting in on the evening wrestling matches with Papa and the boys. She can hold her own but also needs baby protection. Starting to get bored of the same books all the time but still likes them once a day. Peek-a-Who is a favorite - Frida likes to watch Mama's mouth make all the _oo noises, especially "moo" on the cow page. Her deep m-less grunt sounds much more like a real cow than my moo.

11 Months

Frida loves to sit on a low stool - a chair all by herself! She is constantly pulling herself up to a stand, then getting stuck - she hasn't figured out how to sit herself down yet :) She likes to explore anywhere new, and the forbidden bathroom is a favorite but always ends in tears as she inevitably gets herself stuck in the door. She has started making jokes - if she does something that makes us laugh she does it again and again and then flashes her silly toothy grin. She loves to climb on the couch cushions. The outside thaw means our yard is mud and ice and this has been good exercise for everyone! Frida has found her lungs - she shouts "Go!" when she's following behind her brothers on their bikes while riding in her stroller, when the car stops at a red light, and when we sing at bedtime. She still (since birth!) loves singing at bedtime.

on her own chair

12 Months

(I'm writing this at 14 months, so will do my best)

Frida loves to play with her brothers, and if they seem irritable, she likes to irritate them. But MANY days, except for before meals when we fall apart, all three want to play together and laugh together. When Theo and Frida get to belly laughing together, everyone has to join in it's such a merry event. Frida learned to go up the stairs around 11 months, and has now been a down the stairs expert. I didn't teacher her, some how she figured it out. What a genius. Around 13 months Frida was walking while holding onto our fingers or pushing her car (sometimes with a brother sitting in it). By 14 months she decided she didn't need her crutches for short stretches. As of today (June 29) she's walking everywhere! Goodbye crawling and goodbye helps! This last month she also starting riding her bike from Grandpa and Grandma on her birthday. She is the earliest of our three to do that. In the last three months Frida has also been much quicker to warm up to new people. Last weekend Farmor and Farfar were here and she was reaching away from me holding her to Farmor by the second day!

2 Years

3 Years

4 Years

5 Years

August

 August was mostly consumed with moving! We got to SLEEP OVER at AUNTY MERCY's house!! when all our stuff was on a truck. And THOMAS was there, and we were happy to see Uncle Walt too :) What a fun added bonus when we were so sad to be leaving our neighbors, that we got to have a sleepover with these favorites.

Some of our favorite things to do in the new house:

Sit in the sunny school room making up stories about the Prophet Dubby

Going to the splash pad park with our cousins who are now our neighbors!
And lying on the hot cement to try to warm up!

Doing Mama's hair

Taking photos of Mamas hair (all by herself)

Taking photos of herself (~100 this episode)

Helping Mama take the wallpaper down!

They really were helpful!

Farfar is proud they are earning their keep.

Dressing up and being soo silly

Scraping the outer fluff off of the butternuts.
A 1st for that happy forager smiling at you.

So even if we miss our dear, dear old-house neighbors, and our big old character-filled mansion, we are happy here too, and enjoying the people and the nice new house, and finding plenty to do. 

Family reunion with Grandpa's side.
This tube-on-a-wheel pallet was a real hit.

We got to squeeze in one last camping trip before the school year! Uncle Brad let us borrow his canoe, and it turned out our campsite was right on the river so we could just carry it down to this beautiful spot!

The view from our site :)