Getting back to normal...

Last week was a little bit crazy... we got lots of snow and ice and lost our power for several days! We tried to have fun the first night without power by cooking hot dogs on the fire and camping out in the family room to stay warm. But after that I was over it and ready to get our electricity back.

Cohen had fun playing in the snow. He thought it was hilarious to go down the slide and land in the snow. I think he's still talking about that!

And my little Leah... How is she already eight months old? She has two teeth on the bottom and I think she is working on some more. She has been drooling more and chewing on everything. Her latest trick is shaking her head to tease you. Tonight I asked her to give me a kiss and instead of her usual slobbery kiss on my cheek she just smiled and shook her head no.

And big news for Cohen... I never thought I would blog about this, but I can't help but be excited. Cohen went poo-poo on the potty tonight! After supper he snuck off to hide behind the couch. We have been talking about how when he thinks he need to go, to tell me and then we will run to the bathroom. (We've also been talking about how Mommy will take him to the store and let him pick out any choo-choo he wants when he goes poo-poo on the potty.) So anyway, when I asked him if he needed to go potty, he said yes and took off for the bathroom. I was feeding Leah so Robby went to help him. Robby left him on the potty for a minute to throw the old diaper away and when he got back Cohen said, "I went poo-poo on the potty, Daddy!" I guess he just needed a little privacy!

A little bit of free time...

Since Cohen and Leah are going to be spending the week with my mom when Robby and I go to Guatemala in March, we decided that we should probably have him spend the night with her now just to see how he does. So he is at Nana's for part of the weekend and I have some free time!

Cohen is doing everything that Daddy does these days, so he loves all things related to Jeeps, mountain bikes, and climbing. Here he is trying to climb up the door frame.


And bath time just got a little more interesting -- Leah is now big enough to sit in the bath tub and take a bath with Cohen. They have a GREAT time splashing and playing together in the tub.


We are all tired of this cold weather and anxious for warmer days so we can enjoy being outside. The other day Cohen came out of the closet trying to blow up his swimmies. He said, "Be right back, Mommy. I go to the poo."


Cohen has also stepped in to help me with photo shoots with Leah.



Leah is not crawling yet, but it is seriously my fault because I do not put her down on the floor enough. It is just much safer for her to be in the exersaucer when I am doing things around the house. Cohen is a wonderful big brother, but when I turn my head from him for more than a minute I come back to find him playing trains with Leah as the train tracks. She is very patient with him and lights up whenever she sees him.

Christmas and New Year's...

The blog is not very high on my list of things to do these days, but I did want to post some pictures from Christmas and New Year's. We had such a wonderful time this year and felt incredibly blessed to have our two sweet babies -- although Cohen now tells me he is a big boy.

Cohen says everything these days and provided constant entertainment by singing songs everywhere we went over Christmas. He knows all the verses to Frosty the Snowman and after reading the book over and over so do I! Before Christmas I would rock him to sleep (I plan on rocking him until he tells me not to!) singing Away in a Manger. When I sang, "The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay," he would correct me by saying, "Asleep on the couch!"

Everyone was anxious to hold Leah at all of the Christmas parties and we passed her around so much that she caught a bad cold. But she is feeling much better and back to her happy little self. We went to Florida with Robby's family after Christmas and had a great time. I think Leah forgot that we had two dogs at home though because now when they get close to her she starts to cry.

Leah is a busy little girl -- the days of her sitting in my lap as I check my email are gone. She loves to play in her exersaucer where she jumps and squeals. She is also very interested in playing with Cohen's toys... and he is not so anxious to share with her. She has been jabbering and saying "Dadda" for a while now, but still just laughs when I ask her to say "Mama." She will give slobbery kisses when you ask and is starting to stick out her tongue when you ask, "Where's your tongue?"

Merry Christmas!

We are so excited about celebrating Christmas this year. Two precious little ones add even more joy to this season! When I look at Cohen and Leah, I can't help but think of the verse: "Every good and perfect gift is from above." ~James 1:17

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

Little Miss Chatterbox

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

On Saturday Leah said "Dadda" for the very first time and today she started jabbering and hasn't stopped! She smiles and you can tell she is very proud of herself. All of this while two bottom teeth are breaking through. She's such an angel!

And let's see if I can remember all the funny things Cohen has been doing and saying these days...

His new favorite book is Frosty the Snowman. Sometimes Robby will try to just say the words instead of singing them. Cohen points his finger at him and says, "Sing, Dad!"

We've also been reading The Night Before Christmas a lot lately. On the last page it is says, "Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night." Cohen pointed to the C in Christmas (which is written a little swirly) and said, "Chick-Fil-A!" Guess we go there a little too often!

Cohen watched anxiously as Robby put up the Christmas tree. He loved all the lights and decorations. The next morning as we walked past the tree he said proudly, "Daddy built that!"

I guess anytime Robby starts driving a little too fast I say, "Robby! Slow down!" because the other night we were on our way home and Robby pulled out onto the street pretty quickly. I didn't say a thing, but Cohen yelled from the back seat, "Robby! Slow down!" Later he said, "Weeeeeee!"

He constantly asks "why" these days. After explaining and explaining we finally just say "because." It backfired the other day -- Cohen did something wrong and Robby asked him why he did it. He answered, "Be-tause."

Time for Christmas Pictures

Maybe because I waited so long for my two sweet babies, I have these visions of the perfect Christmas picture in my head. Well, after two different days at the studio I'm just glad to have some pictures with Cohen IN the pictures -- he really liked hiding behind the backdrops. Leah is still at that age where she smiles and lights up when you point a camera in her direction, so it was very hard choosing just a few shots of her. I'm not giving up on the "perfect picture" of the two of them together yet though -- I'm going to start taking pictures of my own as soon as we put our tree up this year!

FFF - Kisses!

I have been following Sarah's blog forever and yet this is my first Favorite Foto Friday. Since I rarely have the time, motivation, or energy for posting pictures these days I thought this would be a good way to make sure I post pictures at least once each week. And I love the theme of this week's FFF -- Kisses! I don't have any pictures of us kissing Leah yet (horrible, I know) so I am sharing one of my favorites from our time in Antigua. We were standing in the little courtyard area of our apartment and my mom took the picture from the living room. Such great memories!