On the move and into everything.

crawling

sitting

Let the cruising begin...anything he could hold on to was fair game- even Bailey at times.

January 2010. There are child locks on all the doors and cabinets, outlet covers and gates going up all over the house. They are on the move! Nate mastered crawling first, Chloe watched patiently at the best way to get it done after watching all Nate's efforts...




Then one day she was mobile. So many things to see! So many places to go!

Baby's 1st Christmas

Well, the big day finally arrived and we were all ready. The christmas lights were hung, the tree was decorated, the presents were wrapped, Mimi and Papa arrived and the babies were in their Christmas best.

This was the pre-Christmas photo shoot for our holiday cards - so much fun, great poses.

It was an incredible day. Even Bailey had a special hat and matching pout.

The Tree decorations and ornaments kept Nate occupied, he could roll right up under there and kick the ornaments and grab the wrapping paper. It was grand! I tried propping and posing these 3 for a very long time.

We Trimmed the tree with Mimi, Papa, Antie CC and Uncle Rob.

Enjoyed by us all.

Here we are at 9 months, developing our little personalities

Chloe is social. She tries to make you laugh, she wants to interact and imitate. She learns fast. She picked up signing really fast. So this all leads to some really funny things she does. She started with the "fish face" my all time favorite:

Fish face with Nate

Fish face in the bumbo 

Fish face during story time

 Then the silver rattle that Mimi gave her:

I tried so hard to get a video of her signing. This is one of my favorites: Milk!!

It is hard to imagine how she picked it up so fast, but she was signing milk, starting from 9 months on. She also signed "more," "all done" and "mama."

Nate is more physically oriented and still a little shy. He would practice a gross motor skill until he got it mastered, if it was rolling, sitting, crawling, learning to walk or ride his bike. He didn't care how many times he fell, it didn't even phase him, he just kept practicing until he got it and then it was on to the next thing. He was sensitive to loud sounds and would startle easily. Something Chloe figured out at about 6 months and would scream loudly on purpose to startle him and make him cry. The little girl has something of a mean streak, too!

They inherited their Mommy's love of water

Bath time for Nate and Chloe!

Somewhere along the way, they started enjoying their baths. They would just kick and giggle and get relaxed enough to go to bed easily. Just don't try to wash their hair (the little fluffy stuff on the sides) or try to moisturize them after their baths - that would make the in stereo screaming start. I cut that out really quick.


We started swimming lessons at the gym at 8 months old. They were excited to get in the water and kick around. But the pool was too cold for Chloe, she would start shivering and turning blue about 5 minutes into the lesson. But she was smiling...that's my girl!! Nate seemed to handle the temperature better with his added insulation of fat.

Everything seemed to be going well until...

...Nate's first time under water...

...little scary

Chloe's first time under water...

The stunned appearance and blueish-grey hue helped me determine that she did not need to do this again any time soon!

Trips to the Albuquerque Aquarium were an all time favorite.

We ended up spending a lot of time there watching the fish in the winter when it was too cold to be outside. Chloe loves to watch the stingrays in the shallow tank and Nate, as you can see above, is fascinated with the sharks in the large central aquarium. I can't wait to take them to the New England Aquarium in Boston. I grew up with a year round pass and spent a lot of time there with my brother while my father was working on Long Warf, just next door.