Sweet Mia

To avoid the rain this weekend, we headed down to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium on Saturday with Uncle Yoyo, Tylie and Tody. Miles had a great time in the Kids Zone and chose to spend his time on all the kids activities, like putting wings on the sea horses and rolling Dodo Bird eggs off the cliff, and not particularly watch the fish. I had Amelia strapped to my chest, who was totally engrossed in all the activity! I don't know which was more exciting for her, watching all the kids, people or fish, but she was certainly curious... and known to stare down anyone who dared look back at her!

Snuggles with a little boy

My little boy can be a snuggler sometimes - and other times, just a happy little busy boy.... both of which were captured in the following.

LOVE HIM!!! (And looks like we need to start working on potty language...)

Imagination

Miles imaginary play has been expanding more and more lately. He now takes his little kitchen, drags it across the kitchen, so that he can stand behind it and become and ice cream vendor. Sometimes he sells pizza, sometimes he sells ice cream, and its always 2 dollars. (And sometimes he just tells me to go to bed.) Love how he is growing up, but hate how quickly it is going. I've been looking back on the blog to see Miles and Amelia's age, and it just feels like yesterday - then you look at him in these kind of settings, and it seems like he is an adult! As one of Tim's friends put it, life with kids is long days and short months - it's going so fast!!

Bath time fun

Bath time with the chickens has gotten more fun. They play really well together and I think just generally enjoy that time of night. Usually Tim hangs out with them and washed them up while I run around and get clothes to the laundry and diapers/PJs ready for bed. The nighttime routine is a busy time for us, but bath is always that deep breath before the final push.

9 Months!

Amelia had her 9 month check up last week and she is doing great! The doctor thinks she will be an early walker (not too much of a surprise) as she is hitting a lot of her physical milestones early. She is right on track for growth and development and is running in the 50th percentile across the board.

• Height: 27 1/4 inches
  
• Weight: 19 lbs 1 oz.
  

What's also been interesting of late has been her ability to respond to our words. So much is going on inside her little brain, it is just amazing. She already knows things like "high 5" and when to waive hello and goodbye, but she is also learning about kisses... our new favorite thing.

On the way back from Reno this past weekend, we also hit a new milestone which was a roadtrip without stopping! Indeed!!! We times the drive to leave before the 1:00 nap. Both kids were asleep before we hit started climbing out of the high desert and into the Sierra. For the most part, they napped until Sacramento something (Tim running over couple of the reflector bumps on the road) woke them up. They chatted for a while, and when they both got a bit irritable, I crawled into the back and gave them snacks. That was worth a good 45 minutes of entertainment, then I gave Amelia some milk I had handy in a sippy cup and she proceeded to drink it all down! We made it home from Reno in under 4 hours - and it was great to not have to stop for the ol' 45 minutes like we did this summer.

Amelia is crawling like a total champ and can now pull herself up onto everything! I came into the playroom last night and she was pulling all the books off the bookshelf - one of Miles' all time favorite activities! She's also been into the pantry and had a go at the first couple of levels. I can't imagine how we're going to keep the house tidy with 2 mess makers, but it is wonderful to see how she can get into everything.

Rain Boots

In preparation for the rainy season, we got Miles his first pair of rain boots. They were a big hit and Miles wanted to test them out right away, despite the fact that it wasn't raining that day - so we hit him with a hose in the back yard. Needless to say with anything that concerns water, he had a blast and we are really looking forward to the next rain.

Chatty Chatty

Amelia is getting more and more verbal every day. While this video doesn't quite give her all the credit, she is experimenting with Ps, Ts, clicking sounds and of course the occasional screech. She is just coming into herself and life with 2 kids is getting more and more fun!