45 weeks, Papa's birthday

 45 weeks! Really, Mama? More pictures??

 Okay, Mama, I'll give you a little smirk! :)

 The birthday present Juni picked for Papa! Aggravation! They are learning how to play :) I guess Zach didn't know either!

 My sweet babe touched the oven while dinner was cooking :( Papa was letting her play in a cup of cool water :)

 Ok, now what do we wish for?!?!?

 Hooray!

 Family

 I keep getting these trio of pictures where I can't eliminate any. I know I will look back on these 3 when I am old and remember Genevieve's first Christmas. She LOVES the tree, and pulling off all the ornaments. We've tried to move all sharp, hooks, breakable up and out of reach. She was in her pajamas and asking to go night night until she got entranced by the tree, and then she didn't want to go anymore. She just wanted to stay and play in the glow of the lights.

My heart is full.

And this little gem was excited to get out in the sunshine after days of clouds and much needed rain. She wouldn't wear the ruffle coat I got out for her, because it would make her look like a dancer, but a vest was okay, because she would still look like a cowgirl! ...thank goodness ;)

43 weeks, 10 months, 44 weeks

I kind of feel like I'm drowning around here lately. I'm trying to do more and more but feel like I'm actually doing less and less. Zach has been so helpful with household tasks and the girls and still doing all of his time consuming work tasks. I don't know how he gets it all done!! My head is spinning each day. I feel like Genevieve's baby days are passing me by and somehow Juni went from being a little toddler to a big girl. Sigh. I feel like I'm missing these moments, but I'm right here. I'm working on being more present and absorbing all the time I can with them.

Genevieve is just a firecracker. She sits and enjoys life and giggles and crawls so fast now! She enjoys walking with an object she can push along for support. Her favorite thing to do is probably scream for whatever toy Juni is playing with or whatever food I am eating :) :) :) She loves us so much. She rests her head against us for hugs and has a very deliberate pat, pat, pat that is her love rub. Her eyes sparkle when you talk with her and she really enjoys just being held and carried around. She is more of a screamer than Juni was and sometimes is shocks me the noise that comes out of her! Her emotions turn so intense so quickly. I'm so curious to watch her habits translate into life. Whenever we talk about the bath she goes crawling right in there as excited as can be!! She's been enjoying music so much. Sometimes she sings and dances. She and Juni were playing with some little percussion instruments yesterday and just having a great time.

Juniper is growing up. She is no longer afraid of Dr. Abbot, her pediatrician. I wouldn't say they are friends, but she doesn't cry anymore at Genevieve's check-ups, so that is helpful :) and I'm glad she is feeling more safe. We have often been reminding her to be gentle, as her strength has been increasing, so her new favorite saying is, "I am Mama, that's my middle name!" Zach and I don't know where she learned this, but of course now she knows that we think it is funny, she says it even more!! She is doing so amazingly well with expressing her emotions with her words. She was unaffected by mean girls at the playground. Telling them what she wanted to play and just not understanding their rudeness. Although, she did roll her eyes at them :) Now, I know NONE of you reading this have EVER seen a girl roll her eyes before :) :) :) Oops. I'll take the blame for that one. It was the first time I had seen her do it, but I have to admit, I've seen it a few more times since. She's been saying things like, "Now Papa, I'm using nice words with you; you need to make sure that you....." in a very calm voice. And telling us, "Now when I tell you that I need something, you need to give it to me right away, ok, Mama? Do you understand?" In a very sweet voice with a serious "mama" look. I love that she is learning from us and gaining confidence and kind words. Of course we don't give her whatever she wants as soon as she asks, but I love the way she is communicating. She's been so helpful with sharing with Genevieve and playing with her and feeding her. She still doesn't understand that she can't just pull her over like a tower of blocks, but we're working on it! ;)

 playing on the bed! She has gotten to the point where she thinks it is HILARIOUS to roll over and crawl away while trying to change her diaper!! Agh!! She was laughing so hard until one day I looked at her with a very serious face and told her it wasn't funny and I held her still so I could change her. It broke her heart, and she cried so hard. Next time she tried to crawl away and giggle, I let her, 100 times. Let the girl have some joy. :) I'm already crazy. And besides, who couldn't listen to a baby giggle all day long!?

 Happy 1st Thanksgiving, Genevieve! She needed to eat before the turkey was done, so she had mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes early and stuffing and turkey later :) The "stuffing" although actually just dressing, whatever... was definitely her favorite!!

 Wanting to wear Mama's glasses, "...just for a second and then I'll give them right back!"

 tree decorating fun!

 ready to dive in!

 What's that you say? Juni went to take her nap? What'd she leave in her snack bowl for me???

 43 weeks! More than happy to smile at Mama, but not so happy to smile at the camera ;)

 Juni wearing floaties around the house for fun :)

 Stocking are up and ready, thanks to Grandma Susie!

 10. Months. Old. Sigh.

 There's that serious face again ;)

 Christmas cookies, batch 1!!! Yum!!!

 Mama and Genevs in fox shirts and gray pants :)

 44 weeks! 10 month check up day! Juni eating a little cheese popcorn :) Why does cheese popcorn need to be so expensive??? The girl is going to think it's gold!! Haha! She loves it, but it just costs so much!!

 Pre-shots ladies pic! Helping keep Genevieve away from the Dr's tools on the counter

 The day the dairy/soy/egg free cookie mixes arrived from Grandpa Billy and Grandma Candy! Boy was she EXCITED!! ...and Mama was too!! Soooo good! This was a mix I found at Whole Foods when I FIRST started following MSPI with Juni, and loved it, but hadn't been able to find it since. I've tried so many cookie recipes with not much luck over the last 3.5 years, so I was so excited to get these mixes to bake Christmas cookies with Juni!

 Her hair is starting to fill in and feather out. So pretty!

 Sissy helping to feed Nevi watermelon and banana! I remember being a little girl on 12th St and calling Lisa sissy and my mom telling me I couldn't because she didn't like that word. Now we use it with Juni all the time. I bet my mom still doesn't like it! Ha! Who's the mom now??? :) :) :) :) :)

Happy as a clam up there with all that crinkly paper!! ...which would soon be torn to shreds! :)

another pound (and a quarter), another inch

29 inches = 79th percentile.... dropping in percentage a little, but still a tall girl

18 pounds 3 ounces = 35th percentile

40, 41, 42 weeks (whew, how has it already been that long?!?!)

 While playing in the bath one night, Genevieve was choosing all the purple toys! So fun! I think it might be her first favorite color! ;)

 40 weeks. I've been working Mondays and so our weekly pictures have been a tad difficult as she is often ready for her nap when I get home, but if I wait until post nap the lighting isn't so great. So, here she is avoiding eye contact, as she is definitely ready for her nap!!

 "Mama? Seriously? Can we please just go take my nap now?"

 Grandma Susie came to visit! Hooray! They were playing Play-Doh here :)

 sitting on Mike and Maura's steps. Nobody is looking, not even Grandma :)

 41 weeks! Hooray!! Don't her legs look so long?? They are!! :)

 sister love ;)

 Girls cooking with Mama! I love this one! Duh! I was cutting up carrots and potatoes and putting the ends and peels in their bowls for them to "cook!" It was super fun for all of us!

 Grandma Susie got Juni a ladybug raincoat to match her boots! Luckily just days later it rained so she could try it out!! So cute!

 more name/letter learning

 decorating Sophie her Giraffe with shoes and then blankets and all kinds of things!

 our freezer/fridge and dishwasher all went out in the same day :/ Ugh! We ended up getting some dry ice to try to save some food. And then after our lovely landlords moved food into their freezer, got us a mini fridge, and our big fridge/freezer fixed the very next day (and dishwasher replaced that weekend) we used the dry ice for some fun!! Ooooooo! Ahhhhhhh! :)

 A new kind of sister love. Playing in their room. Sigh. Love.

 Juni's first, and fingers crossed last, "wall art" Ack! Luckily it was actually dry erase crayons so Zach said it rubbed of fairly easily.

 42 weeks (10 weeks from 1 year! Ahhhh! Craziness!)

Pulling and standing and crawling and talking steps with objects for support

She spends so much time each day crawling all over the house. When she has the most energy she'll crawl for the bath, hoping there is water in it, and gets disappointed when there isn't :)

 Girls watching Juicy and Papa putting up the xmas tree. It has been our tradition for Zach to put up the tree while I cook on Thanksgiving but he's been wanting to put it up since Halloween and I finally caved. We have a couple presents under the tree and Juni has already been begging to open them every day. Next year, not caving early :) :) :)

 the girl's hair is still growing!

 she wanted a picture of her stairs, they are stair, so they couldn't be even :) she's always thinkin'

 Juni's best friend Juliette just got a new baby brother Tristan, so we were invited to their home to play. This trooper of a new mom made Play-Doh for the girls. See Genevieve in the background! She was loving having new things to pull herself up on!!

 You know the usual phone pics/camera pics/nothing is ever in order :) :) :) Grandma Susie took Juni to the pottery place to pick out something to paint and Juni chose this Puppy! She asked about her every day until we could go and pick her up! The lady gave her a paint tray and asked that she pick 5 colors. Of course, Juni picked 5 yellows!

 This is serious business!

 Even Juicy likes Grandma!!

 Of course we had to put Jamberry on Grandma while she was here!!

 And we made a yummy vanilla cake with the dairy/soy/egg free cake mix Grandma brought us!!

 And we made meyer lemon icing from the lemons on the tree out front!!

 Our sad faces after Grandma left!

 But Genevieve was worn out after having so much fun with Grandma!

 Genevieve got in on the dry ice fun too!

 SO happy to pick up her shiny yellow puppy!!!!!!

 Not two hours later, she tried to set her down on the ground and her paws popped on the floor, shattering. She was heartbroken :( Papa did an AMAZING job of gluing 2 of the 3 broken back together, but the last one was missing a pretty good chunk still. She's still loved dearly!!

 Juni's Jammin' too!!

 She stepped up onto this stool like she'd done it a hundred times before!!

 sand castle fun!

 She found the bag of Halloween candy and stole a sucker before I caught her! She was LOVING it!!

 Can I help you, Mama? I was just going to climb around the couch!

And one last picture with Grandma by the lemons!!