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!

Trick or Treat!

Cohen and Leah enjoyed dressing up and visiting with their Aunt Maryann and Uncle Steve this Halloween. Cohen helped pass out candy until some scarier kids stopped by. He called the scary kids "big clowns" and was not about to get close enough to give them candy. He is saying everything these days. One of my new favorites is when he lays on the couch, pretends to snore, and says, "Trying to sleep." I promise that's not what I do all day -- I think I'm always telling him we have to play quietly because Leah's trying to sleep.

Leah is now five months old and I'm amazed at how quickly she's changing. She loves watching Cohen and she's smart enough to know to squint her eyes when he gets close. Yesterday I took Cohen in for his two-year check-up and Leah was the hit of the office. All the ladies that work there started lathering up with anti-bacterial gel so they could have a turn to hold her. Today she had just as much fun as Cohen at story time at the library. She laughed out loud as we sang songs and played with the parachute.

Mr. Pumpkin Head

Did anyone else see those Mr. Potato Head kits for pumpkins at T@rget? I thought they were adorable, but I didn't want to spend the money. We just used our Mr. Potato Head pieces on Cohen's little pumpkin instead. He thought this was hilarious!

The Pumpkin Patch

We had the best time yesterday at the Pumpkin Patch! We went to a smaller farm nearby and we practically had the place to ourselves. They had a castle made of hay, hay rides, pumpkins, and Cohen's favorite -- a real tractor that the kids could climb on and pretend to drive.

On the hay ride they took us out to where the cows were grazing. Cows are one of Cohen's favorite animals (every time we drive past a field he asks us: "Cows?") and he moo-ed loudly as we rode past them.



As for Leah, I've decided she needs to stay four months old. I love this age! She is perfectly happy watching Cohen, playing with her toys, or being carried in her sling wherever I go. Really, she is pretty happy no matter what. Just like I was telling Robby's mom tonight -- she couldn't be any sweeter!

Candy AND the Park?!

Recently (and I say recently because I honestly can't remember what day it was) we met some friends at the park. As I woke Cohen up that morning I asked him, "Do want to go see Candy at the park?" He started jumping up and down saying, "Candy! Candy!" Since he has only been around her a few times, I wasn't sure why he was so excited...

What do you mean your name is Candy?


Do you at least have some candy you could give me?


We also met another mom and her daughter there that day. It was so fun to see the differences between boys and girls. As Cohen was hopping, climbing, and having fun just being silly, the little girl was staying close to the Mommies and trying to get into the conversation as much as she could.

Leah now prefers the Baby Bjorn over the first sling we used where she could lay down. Now she is happy to be able to look around more and see what's going on. Of course she still likes to cuddle and nap as I carry her around, which is so nice. What am I going to do when she starts moving on her own?!




Thanks, Candy, for taking some great pictures for us!

We survived the wind...

On Sunday we were hit with a huge wind storm. We didn't actually realize how bad it was at the time -- we were on our way downtown to meet some friends for a cruise on the Belle of Louisville. We didn't get far before we saw some trees down and turned around. Robby's first thought: "Maybe I can go mountain biking instead." My reply: "Yeah, I'm sure that's much safer than a boat ride. Great idea!" We ended up spending our afternoon at home and luckily we didn't lose power like so many in Louisville.

Cohen's new playset survived the storm and he has been enjoying it ever since. Every time he catches a glimpse of it from a window he starts shouting, "Playground! Playground!"


Everyone has been trying to figure out who Leah looks like. Isn't that always the question with new babies. Well, at first we thought she was going to look exactly like Robby -- their hospital pictures were identical. But now we're not so sure. So today my aunt Maryann said, "I think she looks like me!" We all laughed, but sure enough when she brought out one of her baby pictures they really do look alike.


Here's us trying to get a family shot by setting the timer on the camera. :)



Mommy's Happy Girl!

Happy Friday!

This week has just flown by! I'm trying to think back to what we even did this past week. I met with a new social worker with Love Basket on Monday who is working mainly with domestic adoption. I've always been drawn to international adoption, but after talking to her I was just as excited about domestic. (We are not thinking about adopting right now -- we were just meeting with her to help arrange seminars with our church.)

Tuesday Cohen, Leah, and I made it to story time at our library. Leah was content in her seat and Cohen stayed quiet and just took it all in. I thought he would be so excited when they brought out the parachute to play with, but he was very serious and not so sure about holding on or running under it. Next time I'm sure he will be more confident and enjoy it even more.

Today we went to Southeast for their International Playgroup. It is such a neat group of families with kids adopted from all over the world. Today's group was small, but there were kids from Guatemala, China, Russia, and the U.S. The play area has this amazing playhouse, which Cohen loved. He climbed upstairs and waved at us from the windows and had the best time. Leah slept through the playgroup in my sling. :)

Three Months Already!

Poor Leah, I've already gotten second-child syndrome! Last night Robby was talking to his mom on the phone and she said, "Isn't today the 28th? Leah is three months old!" Three months old and I haven't even sent out birth announcements! (Not going to happen I'm afraid.) So today I made sure that I dressed her in an adorable dress (given to her from Nana) and took some pictures.

Since I might not write this all down in a baby book, here's Leah at three months: She loves sitting in her bouncy chair and smiling at the toys that hang down. She is already such a talker. She says ooh, oh, boo, and goo all with the most beautiful smile on her face. And talk about an easy baby, last night I fed her at 8:30 and put her to bed. She slept until 8:00 this morning! Such an angel! (Does this mean she is going to make up for it during her teenage years?!)





And while Cohen has an equally perfect sleeping schedule, he goes non-stop all day! We are planning on getting him a playset for the backyard for his birthday and I am hoping it turns out the be an EARLY present because we both need it. :) Even though he is very active these days, he still enjoys some quieter activities. He loves puzzles, playdough, and his new Wheels on the Bus book his Aunt Amanda gave him.

Fun at the Airport

On Wednesday we headed to the airport to meet some friends who were bringing home their daughter from Guatemala. (I had chills walking into the airport just thinking about this time last year bringing Cohen home.) There was quite the party at the airport -- I think I counted eleven little ones waiting to welcome Eliana and her big brother Roberto.

We knew their flight was delayed, but we wanted to be sure we wouldn't miss them, so we ended up having plenty of time before they arrived. Here's how we kept everyone entertained for three hours at the airport. We watched all the airplanes outside -- Cohen cheered every time we saw one take off. The little girls loved watching Leah and were so sweet with her. One of the Nana's was a retired kindergarten teacher, so she had "Circle Time" with plenty of fun songs. Miss Holly read some Dora books and of course we had lots of snacks. When it was almost time for them to arrive, we lined all the kids up for a photo shoot.





At home Cohen has been loving his new lawnmower. He cracks me up the way he pushes it for a while and then stops to work on it. And Leah is still such a sweet, smiley baby. She enjoys her tummy time - especially when big brother gets on his stomach with her and makes her laugh!