She's a mover!

Mariella rolled in both directions tonight! She's never showed a lot of interest in rolling, but she had been moving to her side and staying there. After dinner tonight, she was playing with her feet (as usual) and started rocking onto her side with a mission. She looked like she knew exactly what she was doing. Then, she made it! Daddy missed it the first time, so I put her on her back again and after a few tries, she did it again. Later, while we were getting Jacob ready for bed, I put her on her tummy and after less than a minute, she rolled herself onto her back. Once again, Daddy missed it the first time, so we had to show him too.

Yay for Mary!

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It's been brought to my attention that the comment feature is not working properly. For some reason, I'm not getting the notices that comments are ready. I was able to copy and paste a comment onto the video post below, so I'm not sure if that means it's working again, or if it only works for me. For those using the Anonymous option, you can try using the Name option and see if that makes a difference. You don't need an account for that, you just type your name in the box. Otherwise, you can e-mail me and apparently I can put your comment up for you. Weird.

Video Post

I'm way behind on adding videos, so here are a bunch from the past few months. Despite the evidence in the videos, Jacob usually does wear pants. I didn't realize until I started going through this DVD how many we have with him pantsless.

First up, Mariella's birth day (3/3/09). She's almost a half hour old here.




Jacob's classic "TV broken" moment in the hospital (3/3/09)




Mariella sleeping peacefully (3/5/09)



Jacob and Mariella (3/27/09)




(5/1/09) Mariella playing, and Jacob providing background entertainment. The result is part of the reason that we try to keep her video to his naptime now.



Mariella playing in her bouncy seat, trying to get the toys into her mouth (5/9/09)




(5/23/09) A longer clip of Jacob putting together his newest puzzle. We really thought it would take him longer to figure it out, but he's mastered it already. Seeing the cars and trucks was great motivation.

Jacob riding his bike

Jacob took his new bike out for a spin last weekend. He had a lot of fun, but he has some learning to do. He's very good at steering, but pedaling is going to require some work. We're sure it won't take very long for him to learn. He's very determined. We also found him a helmet that has monkeys on it, which he was very excited to wear. While he is very unlikely to fall off a bike with training wheels, we want him to get used to wearing a helmet when he rides his bike now so we don't have to deal with that later. And you never know with him anyway. He might be planning to crash into a tree, just to see what happens. I should also point out that his bike came with the name "Gravel Blaster." We thought that sounded perfect for Jacob.

Riding down the driveway is easy. No pedaling required.

Getting a push from Daddy is good too. Again, no pedaling required.


Mariella, not on a bike. Notice her crazy brother in the background. He likes to walk over her in a straddling position. He likes to do this because he knows I don't like it.


Showing off her cool embroidered jeans. It's funny, this picture was taken on Monday (long sleeves and pants). Yesterday, it was 95 degrees in the afternoon. She was a lot more naked than in this one.

Happy girl!

Mariella's New Talents

At 10 weeks old, we are really enjoying Mariella's "babyness." She's not just a lump anymore. She's learning how to do things and is starting to be really entertaining beyond just being fun to look at. She gives us lots of smiles and we've noticed that she has dimples. Just like Daddy! She coos and gurgles, and will kick her legs frantically if we make an "ah" sound to her. Her neck is really strong, and she is doing a great job of lifting her head while she's on her tummy. She has figured out how to roll onto her side, but hasn't quite made it all the way from back to tummy. She's still sorting out how her arms work.

She is starting to grab at things that are dangled over her, like toys when she's in the bouncy seat or using the playmat. If she gets hold of one, she tries to pull it to her mouth. Which brings me to her latest discovery...

FEET! What are those doing down there? She'll grab at them with pants on, but having bare legs is apparently the best for playing with feet. Every time she's undressed for a diaper change, her legs shoot straight up in the air.

Enjoying a little tummy time and trying to figure out what to do with her arms

This one is a little out of focus, but I thought it was a cute face

Like I said, diaper changes are the best for finding your feet. Also, her crazy hair really makes her head look like it's a funny shape.

She didn't really want me taking pictures during her feet playtime

In other news, last night we tried putting her to bed without her swaddle. It was time, because she's been busting out of the velcro on her own. She's kind of like The Incredible Hulk. So it was just a sleep sack and free arms last night, and she did great. I think she was ready awhile ago, but she was sleeping so well in the swaddle that I didn't want to change it. After just a little squirming, she settled into the classic "arms above head" position. We hope this good sleep keeps up. The next step is moving the bassinet into her room, and eventually she'll move into her crib. That is, after we get a new one. Our crib, which we loved, has been recalled, so we are going through the steps to get a new one. Really, we figured after the stress tests Jacob put it through, there clearly isn't anything wrong with it--but we're not going to take any chances.

Mother's Day 2009

We spent the morning taking part in the annual Twin Cities Race for the Cure. This was our 3rd year participating, and we plan to keep on going as long as the weather is nice. We realized today that it's been cooler each year, so next year it will probably snow. We'll see. The minor miracle of the day was getting us all out of the house in time for the 9:00 start. We were a few minutes late by the time we parked and walked to the starting line, but there were still hundreds of people backed up so it didn't matter. Tom pushed Jacob in the stroller, and I had Mariella in the carrier. As usual, she went to sleep almost immediately, so I'm not sure if she got anything out of the walk. I had hoped she could look around for fun, but since it was about 45 degrees outside, I had her covered with a blanket. Jacob had great fun looking at the various vehicles and pointing them out to us. He saw a helicopter, a fire truck, and several police cars. Oh yes, and he also saw lots of orange cones. The highlight of his day may have been seeing a police motorcycle.

The annual picture of Tom pushing Jacob in the stroller


Jacob with his snacks (animal crackers kept him entertained in between police cars)


Robyn and Mariella (hard to get her in the shot, but she's there!)


The finish line


We did the family photo inside the mall this year, and found a lovely backdrop of payphones. It was either the phones or some escalators.


After spending over an hour in the stroller, we let Jacob stretch his legs before going home. His first stop was Legoland. Check out his crazy "I had on a stocking cap" hair!


I needed a full length shot of him, since this was the first year he's been able to wear his race shirt. He still swims in it (it's a 5-6), but he was very proud to wear a shirt just like ours.


Not surprisingly, he found a car made of Legos and drove it around in circles. Then he figured out how to take it apart and we played the always fun game of "Jacob takes it apart and Mommy gets to put it back together."


Me and my kids!


Jacob and his "cheese" face, fork in hand and ready for cake


Jacob (not putting that fork down), Mommy, and the cake. It was very good.

2 Months Old

Mariella turned 2 months old yesterday. She's growing like a...I would say weed, but she's too pretty and sweet to be a weed. Let's say she's growing like a healthy baby. She had a great check-up today. She now weighs 12 pounds, 3 ounces and is 24 inches long. That is a weight gain of almost 3 pounds in 7 weeks, just about right. "They" say a baby should gain about 1/2 pound a week. Just like Jacob, she is starting out on the high end of her growth curves. Her weight is 75%ile and her length is 95%ile.

The doctor was pleased with her many skills, which include following objects with her eyes, turning her head toward noises, smiling, and cooing. She was not nearly as impressed as we are with Mariella's proficiency in the area of pooping, but she didn't live with us during Jacob's early months so I can't blame her too much.

Shots are always the worst part of a well-baby visit, and Mariella was unlucky enough to get 3 of them today. She was pretty unhappy, but fell asleep before we got back to the van, so at least she didn't cry too long. She spent much of today sleeping and recovering. One leg was pretty red and she was very (VERY) upset if her legs were touched, but a little medicine helped her feel better. It made diaper changes a bit challenging, being unable to touch her legs, but I managed. She seems a lot happier tonight already.

Here are some pictures I took yesterday. We decided to stick with the puppy pictures, since she has one and that is what we did with Jacob.