This past week, Momma (Stefanie) was off of work for "mid-winter recess," despite the lack of snow. Because of this time off, we planned lots of fun during the week! It began with a meeting of the Forest Hills Infant Twins. Our friend Susan has two girls, Lily and Eve, and our friends Sheryl and Adam have little girl Lily and little boy Asher. The following day, Neomie came over to meet Josephine & Dylan and give them the BEST BOOK EVER - Mommy, Mama and Me! For inexplicable reasons, we have no pictures from either day.
On Monday, our cousins Ricky and Ninoska came over with their youngest, Jamie, (Ivana, the eldest of the three girls hurt her ankle, and Hannah the "middle child" was sick, so they stayed home) as did the babies' Aunt Hope and Cousin Clayton. On Wednesday, our friend Julie (who is pregnant with her second!!) came over - her wife couldn't come because of work, and their son was in daycare - and spent the day remembering when Benjamin was very small (now 20 months old). After that, the week was finished out with some visiting by Grandma Liz and Dale. They came on Thursday and stayed until early Sunday morning. We made baby food (apple, avocado, carrot, root trio, banana, sweet potato) to last a few months! We also went into Manhattan for lunch at Village Natural. Grandma Liz's friend Bonnie, with her son Matthew, and Uncle Matthew all joined us. This was Dale's second visit to NYC so we sent them into Manhattan for some touring. He seemed to really enjoy his time!
On Saturday of their visit, while we were making lots of baby food, Grandma Lenore and Zadye came for lunch (and took on a lot more than anyone accounted for!) They made lunch, helped to clean up, did some chopping and peeling, etc. On Saturday night, Dale was fixing a few things around the apartment for us (like putting arm rests on an arm restless chair) and needed something from Home Depot. Sarah took him and on their way back it was snowing the whole time! It not only was pretty, but Dale was very excited to see so much snow. Of course, it stopped after a short while and never stayed on the ground. It was still very exciting. On our last, final day of vacation, we spent a good portion of the day hanging out with the babies' Uncle Andrew and Cousin Clayton.
Some photo highlights:
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| Josephine chillin' in the exersaucer |
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| Josephine snacking on Bonnie's finger while her son, Matthew, sits nearby |
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| Josephine debating the meaning of life |
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| Dylan, debating the meaning of his thumb |
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| Dale and Dylan, waiting for lunch to begin - hungry men! |
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| Dylan and Momma |
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The whole table (left to right): Uncle Matthew, Grandma Liz, Mommy Sarah,
Momma Stefanie, Dylan, Dale, Josephine, Bonnie, Matthew |
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| Ricky and Dylan discussing sports |
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| Ninoska and Josephine cuddling |
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| Jamie hanging out with Josephine |
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| Ricky and Josephine |
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| First trip to Manhattan! |
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| Josephine showing off |
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| Clayton and Dylan singing "The Ants Go Marching" |
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| Uncle Andrew and Dylan singing the end of "The Ants Go Marching" |
In other news, Dylan is becoming a master roller - on the verge of rolling from his back to his belly. He can get halfway there and then gets stuck. He still hates his high chair, but loves his food! He has 3 distinct teeth coming in which is not making him a happy baby. He has gone from sleeping through the night 11 hours, to waking up 2 to 3 times. Regardless, he loves the exersaucer, eating, the butterfly that hangs on the activity mat, eating, rolling over, eating, and to play. O, Dylan also loves to eat!
Josephine has been working on her speech. She ooh's and aah's all over the place! She holds Dylan's hand to comfort him if he is sad and crying, and will talk to him if they are left with quiet-ness. She loves to set the music off on the exersaucer, giving great big smiles when the music starts to play. She isn't a huge fan of pears, but still loves her apples and carrots!
Both Josephine and Dylan loved having family here for the whole week, and it certainly wore them out. Today they have napped for nearly 4 hours, catching up on some lost sleep (they didn't want to nap when Grandma and Dale were here at all!).
