Maël is ELEVEN months old!

So serious but take a look at those cheeks!

I love love love them.

And now her eyes disappear because her chubby cheeks take up so much room.

Maël's favorites: playing peek-a-boo, especially with smaller babies; dancing when she hears any type of beat; cuddling up when she's tired; messing up Mabin's toy creations; stacking blocks; being spooked by Mabin; putting toys in and out of bins; grabbing a hold of Mommy and Daddy's faces and very aggressively sucking on their noses and chins.         

 Does Not Like: being redirected when she's doing something she shouldn't- that'll get a fierce shriek out of her.

Maël is TEN months old!

Don't mind the blurriness of the photos or how late I am, it's almost time for her 11 month post! 

Maël's favorites: Pulling herself up! She's even started walking along the furniture, heaven helps us! Getting her two bottom teeth (not nearly as horrific of an ordeal as Mabin teething); sleeping in until 8:30 am; picking things up and exploring them with her feet; flirting with Daddy; giving kisses; waving hello and goodbye; signing 'food', 'more' and 'all done'; chasing Mabin around and around the apartment and her daily individual time with Mommy. 

Does Not Like: getting her diaper changed or getting dressed. Not my favorite stage. 

Maël is NINE months old!

Maël's favorites: CRAWLING! (She went from scooting on her bum to crawling in the blink of an eye, had it mastered in one morning); graham crackers; stealing Mabin's juice; clapping when anyone says 'yay!'; holding out one hand when she wants to be picked up; eating her baby food through a straw sippy cup (I guess that would be drinking instead of eating huh?); using straws; eating 'real' dinner food with the rest of us; sucking on her top and bottom lip alternately; twirling her tongue (it is crazy how much she can twist that thing); playing Patty Cake and taking off her socks and shoes.

Does Not Like: headbands- she rips them off her head the second I put them on. Too bad, we have so many cute ones. 

Maël is EIGHT months old!

Like that shiner on Mabin's left eye? 

Bathtub won that war. 

Fair and square. 

Maël's favorites: playing with noisy toys, clapping-especially at Mikey because that is how he greets her every day after work, switching from her bassinet to the crib and sharing a room with her big brother, scooting on her bum to get wherever she wants, playing peek-a-boo, our friend Bethany's Potatoes au Gratin, yogurt, eating Cheerios all by herself, chewing on her toothbrush (nope, she doesn't have any teeth yet. I love that my babies are late teeth getters!) and getting her toes tickled by Mabin. 

Does Not Like: rolling. 

the babes

Time got away from me. 

Some of these photos were taken at the beginning of summer. 

By the way, I cannot believe summer is over in one week, not that it really makes a difference for our family right now, none of us are in school.

I am looking forward to fall- love it all. 

First time with oatmeal cereal. 

This girl loves food. 

Mikey and Mabin go on many Daddy Dates to 7/11 for Slurpees. 

His laugh fills my soul with joy. 

Mabin really enjoys Mom's fuzzy, warm socks. 

Even on very hot days. 

It was so fun watching Mabin learn how to ride his scooter. 

He's athletic and it didn't take him long. 

This is what my life looks like when I have sick babies. 

Lots of loves and cuddling. 

Mikey put Mabin's special "blank" up on the pull-up bar to tease him.

Told ya this girl loves food. 

Maël mastered closing her pop-up toy pretty quick. 

How cute is this face that we get to see on road trips?

One of our favorite places to be on hot days. 

Maël is SEVEN months old!

So I know it's a lot of photos but can you blame me? She is too cute. 

Maël's favorites: using her feet to push her self backwards when she is lying on her back, playing with her pop- up -door toy, giggling at Mabin, popsicles, watermelon, grabbing onto faces and sucking on noses, snuggling, reading books, dancing, Mabin's sippy cups and yogurt bites and fruit puffs. 

Does Not Like: rolling, she has rolled over maybe twice and refuses to do it again and tummy time.  

And because my cute boy refuses to be left out of any photo opportunity, here he is enjoying some olives. 

Maël is SIX months old!

Maël's favorites: putting binkie in and out of mouth; not being swaddled anymore (it was such an easy transition, thank heavens!); eating oatmeal and rice cereal, carrots, green beans and bananas; smiling and interacting with other people, playing in water, going jogging with Momma and Mabes, bike rides in the bike trailer, popsicles, swinging in the swing at play group, visiting some of her Lucas and Waite cousins, and the most exciting- sitting up all on her own!

Does Not Like: being Ferberized (I hate the cry-it-out method but I also need my babies to sleep through the night. We never sleep trained Mabin and he still wakes up 2-3 times a night. It is not fun. It only took one long and painful night of having Maël sooth herself back to sleep before she slept through the night. But then we went on a 3 week vacation and so now we are back to sleep training again). 

my babies

Some of these photos are so old you can see how bald he was when I accidently buzzed all his hair off. 

Trying out the cup holder in the new stoller.

Riding his "bike". 

Cousins came over to play. 

A favorite game to play: standing on the coffee table and yelling/screaming as loud as possible. 

I love this one of Mabin and Oren. 

Mabin decided to put himself in timeout after Valin had to go there. 

Valin's face is hilarious, "why would anyone wanna be in timeout!? Mabes is cArazy!"

Huge smiles!

Helping Daddy fix his road bike. 

(Notice how much longer his hair is?)

Delicious homemade pizza taste even better when eaten while squatting on the table. 

Mikey is over the moon excited about how much Mabin likes board games. 

Daddy lets Mabin eat on the couches and watch TV...he's so fun! 

One of Mom's many hospital cups put to use. 

We have a lot of smoothies around here. 

This boy never naps outside of his crib. 

Like, ever. 

I can't remember what we did this day but it wore him out. 

Mr. Mabes sharing his love of hats with Little Miss. 

Mikey is 28!

Forgot about this post. 

Mikey had a birthday! 

Almost a month ago, but nonetheless! 

Our wonderful friends, the Weimer's, graciously hosted our shindig. 

Tev and Pot's families were there for the celebration.

For some reason I only got photos of the kids (but still managed to miss Bryce, Boston and Oren, blasted!)

Mikey was able to play board games with the menfolk, the gals got to visit and the kids ran wild. 

Perfect day. 

Aliyah and Mister Mabes

Valin, Aliyah, the Mabes

Annabelle, Valin, Aliyah, Adelaide, Mabes

Keaton, Annabelle, Adelaide, Mabin and Valin