Baby steps

Belle took a step the other day. She's been crawling, pulling up on things and cruising for about 2 months already, so it's no surprise. Since she's so short, being only 9 months old, we figure we'll invest in a bike flag, the kind that has the orange triangle on a long skinny pole that you connect to the back of a bike, and we'll attach it to her waist so we can know that she's coming.

She's understanding more and more these days, clapping her hands when asked to, saying Momma and Dada. She's got 4 teeth total, two top and two bottom and I expect she's working on more. She's can eat massive amounts of food and sometimes can sleep 14 hours at a time, so I'm guessing she's about to have a growth spurt.

She's a determined little lady who knows what she wants when she wants it. And, sometimes, she is the happiest little girl on the planet. Giggling and laughing, goofing with her brother...she's just a treasure.

Drew is talking up a storm. We can actually have conversations now...mostly about Thomas and what he doesn't want to wear, but we're communicating nonetheless. He loves to play outside regardless if its only two degrees, and he hopes that Santa will bring him cars. He really can't get enough of trains, trucks or construction. We still park outside construction sites here or there so he can watch all the digging, scooping and dumping going on.

We are traveling up to Saginaw for the holidays. First time flying with both children together. Should be a hoot. Just know that if the kids are going haywire and we seem to have lost all control, it's true. We are most likely vacated our right minds and in our virtual happy places. Just shake us when we arrive in Sagtown.

Meanwhile, Andrew and I just returned from St Maarten. It was a lovely vacation away. The kids stayed with their Grandma and Granje here in MO (thank you both, again!). It was a quiet, relaxing vacation, filled with lots of eating, sitting, staring into space and listening to the surf, or, actually having complete conversations since we don't get to have many of those uninterrupted anymore. (There's a whole lot of conversations in mid-stream hanging out in the space somewhere waiting to be finished someday). It was good that the island was really small without much to do, so we could literally just sleep late and veg without guilt. Click here for photos.

It was a wonderful homecoming though. And we visited with Bill and Jean for a few more days. We ate out 5 out of 6 meals, exchanged Christmas gifts, had our first Hanukkah meal with authentic latkas (yum!) and simply enjoyed each other's company.

We're excited about the holidays, made even more festive by the two little ones and their beaming faces. We went to see the big guy yesterday, Santa, but the kids weren't impressed. In fact, they were terrified. At least I know he heard my wish list.