All about Delaney

The last post was all about David because it was his birthday but I wanted to share about Delaney too.....she is growing so fast and she is absolutely the light of our lives!! She recently had her 6 month check up: She weighs 15 lbs 4 oz (25% for weight) and is 26.5 inches long (75% for length). She has FINALLY started sleeping through the night as of about 10 days ago. It took a long time to get her there but now she is wonderful at night. We put her down at 7:30 when David goes to sleep and then mom wakes her up at 9:30 for one final nursing and then she sleeps through until 6:00-6:30. We are very proud (and happy) about that!!! She still has shown no sign of teeth and her hair isn't what we would call plentiful but Delaney is a SMILER!! The girl smiles all of the time and it is a smile that would warm anyone's heart. Think I am just a proud momma bragging? I'm not. Look for yourself:
As a typical 6 month old baby she doesn't exactly DO alot yet.....she rolls over and smiles and she LOVES her jumpy:
And she LOVES to hang out with daddy:
Delaney is completely fascinated by David. It is difficult to feed her when he is in the room because she wants to watch and laugh at him. He is pretty good with her as well. He makes sure she has her pacifier:
And teaches her all about blankets:
Delaney has been eating cereal for about a month now. The beginning feedings were quite the family affair:
Delaney loves her cereal. We have moved on to sweet potatoes too but the jury is still out on those:
We love Delaney sooooo much!! She brings balance to our family and her smile is our sunshine. She adores David and he takes such good care of her! We will keep you posted on her amazing progress and share her with you more often :-)

All About David

Well, he did it... David turned 2 years old!!!! He had his birthday this past Thursday but we waited until the weekend to celebrate. We started Saturday baking yummy cupcakes with mom:And enjoying the beater:
We decided to have a birthday lunch (so we could work all of the sugar out by bedtime). We started off with a blessing (Daddy, please allow me to turn three):
And had a lunch of ALL of David's favorite things: GREEN BEANS, HOT DOGS, CARROTS (with his very own pile of dip-dip) and of course a PICKLE!!!!!
Up first, the pickle. Gone!!!! .....David has always been a very good eater!!
For dessert, we had cupcakes!! Mom helped blow out the candles:
No cutlery required...eat like a 2 year old.
Like Father Like Son:
Birthday Boy!!

Half-way through his cupcake he decided he wanted another pickle.....it was his birthday...it's good to be the King ?!?!?

Then, we had presents:
A new book for reading!!!!

And sleeping:
The grand finale: a new tricycle mom found (slightly used):

He took to it right away...next stop, the Tour De France......

With Monkey along for the ride!!!

David continues to be the apple of his mom and dad's eyes!!! He is growing up soooo fast!! His learning is increasing by leaps and bounds and he can count to ten (usually forgetting the number 2), knows all of his colors, shapes (triangle, square, circle, oval, heart, diamond), and letters through E. He has started to construct short sentences (although he gets very frustrated when mom doesn't understand). His favorite phrases are "I did it" and "mom, watch!". He is very loving with Delaney and kisses and hugs her in typical two-year old boy fashion. He is very quick to tell mom when she is "sad" i.e. crying. He has become somewhat picky about what clothes (and socks) he wears and many a morning has started a battle over clothing choice (not quite sure where this comes from!) Overall he is a happy, easy-going boy displaying all of the characteristics of a 2 year old discovering he can think for himself!!!

We will post later in the week about Delaney who is growing as fast as David and the two of them have their parents completely overwhelmed. And happy.

THE PLAYSET!!!!!

For David's birthday, we wanted to get the kids a playset. We did our homework and ordered one online that was delivered promptly, too promptly for our current lifestyle. Part of the deal was we need to erect the swingset. The instructions said it would take the normal family 6 hours. We figured probably double that would be a good estimate for us. It only took 2 weeks...those college degrees were of no help whatsoever.....This is what it looked like upon delivery:

After several rain delays, we finally got the "core" of the set up. Here is the frame going up:

Mom actually helped some too:
Then we had, shall we say, a "significant" precipitation weather delay:
FINALLY, the weather cooperated and we finished....and there was much rejoicing!!!
I don't know who was happier....Daddy or David!!!
Despite the weather delay, David got some outside time in the snow!!!
David gets to say bye-bye to too much inside time and his favorite inside toys:
Our sweet Delaney has fully mastered rolling over and we are madly trying to get some pictures of that but haven't been successful yet. She's almost 5 months now and cute as a button:

Family Pictures

We recently had family pictures taken by our favorite local photographer, Addie Tally. I've uploaded some of our favorites:

Some looked more like "real life" than posed pictures......

And this looked like an REM music video:

Art, Cereal, and Siblings.....

Recently Momma Shedd visited and she brought David an art easel. It has been a huge hit as David will spend hours (OK minutes....but we will take what we can get) drawing (or asking mom and dad to draw "ah-panes").

If you know David, you know what he REALLY likes is cleaning the easel:
We recently started Delaney on rice cereal in the evenings (in a desperate effort to get her to sleep through the night--we will try anything!). The first night went well:
By the second night Delaney seemed to like the cereal a bit more:
And quickly decided she should be in control of the spoon:
Overall I think she is happy with the cereal:
Delaney continues to grow quickly and her little personality shows itself more and more. She is VERY smiley and happy and LOVES to be around people. She is far more social than David was. In some ways though, they are two peas in a pod: