Welcome Elif!

A belated congratulations to the Edelmanns on the birth of their baby boy Samuel Ross on Feburary 3. Congratulations Lindsey, Cliff, and Amelia!

Last week we welcomed our new au pair, Elif--all the way from Turkey! (For those of you that weren't aware, it worked out that our first au pair, Ashley, was going to be with us only until April. Ashley is still with us for a couple more weeks, and she is a great help, since she's the main one "training" Elif while we're at work.)

Charlotte has really taken to Elif, which is saying a lot, since Charlotte has seemed to develop mommy separation anxiety at an earlier than average age.

Jack's in heaven with another person around to play with him! Elif is a lot of fun.


We look forward to spending time and sharing our house with Elif over the next year as she's part of our family, and we hope we're able to help her adjust to life in these crazy United States.

Birthday party

A happy birthday shout-out to all the March family birthdays: Grandpa Nold, Aunt Lisa, and cousins Alexis and Lori!!

I forgot to hit the "play" button until halfway through the song, but you get the general idea. Jack loved his Thomas the Train cake, and being sung to, but he was not interested in blowing out his candle. Maybe next year!

The cake was a big hit with all the kiddos!


Leah Word and Charlotte also thought the balloons were fun to play with.

Charlotte attacking the balloons

Present time! Thanks to everyone for all the wonderful gifts. Jack was in heaven today playing with all his new things. He also liked the handmade cards--we were trying to get him to show off the card from Aubrey and Leah here.


One of Jack's favorite new toys was this cool dinosaur from cousin Alexis. It got a little hungry toward the end of the night (Fields/Gambrell familes--remember that chicken from Christmas 2009?)

The Morning After

More to come later...

Just wanted to share a picture of the aftermath of Jack's birthday party last night. Please note this picture was taken after we had already done some cleaning last night and for a while this morning.

But it was worth it--Jack had a fabulous birthday party and fun was had by all. We had a great time with everyone last night!!

Birthday Boy

It's hard to believe, but Jack turned 3 yesterday! He was very proud of the artwork he made today at playschool.

What a year he's had. Look at this picture from a year ago and see how baby-faced he still was.


Can you believe at this time last year we were just announcing my pregnancy, and now I have a 5 1/2 month old and a 3 year old??

Jack, you've really grown from a baby into a little boy this past year. We started the year off with you barely speaking, and us worrying as it became apparent therapy was needed. But you gradually improved, and then in the fall, you had a breakthrough and your language abilities exploded. I still remember how surprised the speech therapist was that you went from 50% delays in expressive ability to above age-level ability in just a couple of months. Your little voice is still one of the best sounds in the world.

You've also gone through several other important changes this year. We moved to a new house, which you had no problems adjusting to (I'm sure the ceiling fans and big back yard helped a lot with that.) We stopped using a crib, and you've been in your big boy bed for several months now. You don't even have a rail on it anymore. You're sitting in a regular chair at the table and are so good at feeding yourself. We're still working on potty training, but you're definitely making progress.

And of course, you've become a wonderful big brother! After hearing other people's horror stories, I had wondered and worried so much when I was pregnant about how you would react to the baby. We had a few tantrums in the beginning, but other than that, you've handled everything exceptionally well. You and Charlotte definitely love each other already, and I know you two will have so much fun growing up together.

You're such an incredibly smart, happy, sweet, and loving little boy. You fill our lives with joy, and I look forward to another year of watching you grow and learn. We love you very much, my little 3-year old!

These are a few of my favorite things

How Charlotte looks at her big brother with such awe and fascination. I'm lucky to coax a few chuckles out of her, but she openly laughs around him every day.

Jack's beautiful mispronunciations. I'll almost hate when he learns to say these correctly: "maggots" for "magnets," "pack-pack" for "back-pack," "Woowie" for "Louie," "snug-a-bug-a-wug" for "snug as a bug in a rug" when I tuck him in bed, "muffin" for "oven," and "boo-boos" for "blueberries." (He actually stopped doing that one a while ago, but it's still one of my favorites.)

How when Charlotte is eating, she'll frantically wave her free hand around, grabbing at everything until she finds my finger. Then she'll calm down and lie still.

When Jack is so proud of himself for doing something that he literally quivers with excitement and struts around.

How Charlotte can look totally unfazed no matter how loud/disgusting the bodily functions she's performing are. She just stares straight at you with a "Who, me?" look on her face.

How Jack amazes me all the time with how smart he is. He's recently started telling me when we're turning left and right when we're in the car, or when we're going straight. And he's right! I don't think we ever consciously taught him left/right either.

Charlotte's enjoyment of eating. She wiggles around and gasps with excitement whenever I'm getting her in position to feed. She's definitely her mother's daughter :)

Jack's blanket statements. He usually greets me when I get home with "had a good nap," or "good time pweeschool Miss Gwadys," or "watched Jack's Big Music Show." He'll say one of those regardless of whether he actually did any of them that day. And of course, we've all heard and loved his favorite icebreaker, "Monkeys eat bananas."

The way Charlotte sat up for several minutes this morning in front of the closet mirror, staring and smiling at herself.

Jack and Charlotte's excitement when Andy or I arrive home from work. My heart will break a little that inevitable day sometime in the future when they stop.

The noises Charlotte makes occasionally when she's dreaming. She sounds exactly like Louie when he's sleep-barking and squealing. I'm not exaggerating--if they ever happen to be doing this at the same time, you really can't tell who's who.

And lastly, Jack's spontaneous displays of affection for his baby sister--giving noses here.

Out and about

The kids had all sorts of adventures last weekend. Our cousin Lori had a surprise birthday party on Saturday--that's her with Charlotte above.

Here's Charlotte hanging out with Aunt Lisa, Aunt Carol, Michelle, Scott, and Parker.

Jack refused to eat the pizza, but he definitely didn't turn his nose up at the cake!

Jack had a really exciting Friday and Saturday. Aunt Lisa picked him up on Friday, and she took him to a basketball game at the high school where she's an athletic trainer. Unfortunately Jack was intimidated by the loud gymnasium and didn't last very long at the game. At least he was able to go into another, quieter room, and play with some of the students. As always, Jack is quite the ladies' man:

Here's Jack on Saturday morning at Aunt Lisa's house, all snuggled up on the couch watching cartoons. Poor Macie kept trying to play with him, but Jack wasn't interested!

5 Months Old

Hey there, it's me Charlotte. I'm 5 months old today! I'm getting to be such a big girl--as you can see from the picture, I'm able to sit up when I've got myself propped up on my hands. I need to work on my stamina, though. I'm still a bit of a bobblehead; any movement of my head away from looking straight ahead, and I topple over.

Do I remind you of another baby when he was learning to sit up? (Jack was almost 6 months old when this picture was taken, so I'm still definitely beating him in my developmental milestones, he he.)

But I still think my big brother is the coolest thing since sliced bread (or Mommy's milk, in my case.)


I still get startled and bug-eyed from that camera flash Mom insists on using. Here's me in my excersaucer. I really like to bang on the toy by my right hand that makes different animal sounds.

Some of the other things I'm really into these days are: drooling, sticking my hands (and everything else) in my mouth, and grabbing anything I can reach. Between the drooling and sucking on my hands, my shirtsleeves are usually toast within 15 minutes of putting a new outfit on. But I don't seem to mind having wet sleeves all day. I also love to touch people with my slobber hands; I haven't figured out yet why they don't seem to like that.

My favorite things to grab are Mom and Ashley's hair and earrings, but anything within my reach is fair game. I think it's very funny when I swipe at something on the counter as we're walking past and knock it to the floor. I did that to a container of food the other day, and Mom was not very happy.

Overall, I'm a pretty happy 5-month old girl. I'm looking forward to next month when I get to try food!