October Round-Up

I can't believe we're now past October. It is one of my favorite months. All the leaves changing, the crisp air and breaking out all the fall recipes. Russ thinks I'm weird for categorizing recipes into ones that can only be made in cool or hot weather, but I think it's totally normal. And even if its not, I'm sticking to it. After all, I like looking forward to making certain soups and pumpkin things and apple crisp. I don't think they would taste as good if I made them year round.
All that said, this October was a little painful. Actually, a lot painful due to one big, annoying kidney stone. Thank goodness for modern medicine, but it still made me sad to miss out on one of my favorite months. I tried to make up for my almost two-week long kidney stone situation by spending every day for the last two weeks outside as much as possible. The girls and I love being outside. A few highlights of our month:

Isla tried oatmeal cereal for the first time. She isn't on any set eating schedule yet, but she seems to like it so far.

Isla tried out the swing for the first time. I didn't really push her, but she enjoyed sitting in it.

Natalie doesn't exactly love having her picture taken, unless of course I'm taking Isla's picture and then she wants to be in on the action.

This girl loves the park!

My little cutie after church

 The picture is not great, but I was proud of these homemade tortillas. They were so delicious, I'm going to have a hard time buying flour tortillas from the store again.

We have been loving the fall leaves around here. Virginia is so beautiful this time of year.

Burke Lake Park

We enjoyed a lovely fall day at Burke Lake Park yesterday. I had never been and I'm thrilled that we finally took the chance to go. It was beautiful. They also have a fun train that Natalie absolutely loved. We'll definitely be back.

  

 

Recently

We have been having a lot of fun lately doing normal, everyday things. Here are a few of my favorite pictures that capture my life these days...

For starters, my little girl is growing up. I love those big, brown eyes.

She thinks the merry-go-round at the park near our house is the best thing around. She asks to play on it nearly every day.

Have you ever seen a cuter pink bottom? I didn't think so.

I love those little diaper bods. They're just so kissable.

We took the girls to their first volleyball game! We saw the BYU women's team play Princeton in a tournament at GWU.

There is a pretty significant amount of spit-up and drooling around here.

This is how Natalie sleeps much of the time...with her little feet crossed under her bum. I've been too afraid of taking a picture of her asleep in her crib for fear it would wake her up, so I had to catch it when she laid down to rest on the couch when she was sick.

She is my sunshine.

Natalie likes to do tummy-time with Isla.

3 Months

At 3 months, Isla is:

• 14 pounds, 4 ounces and 25 inches long
• smiling more and showing off the adorable dimple in her right cheek. She is giggling more too.
• sometimes sleeping through the night. She did it for a week straight and now she is back to waking up sometime between 3:30-5am to nurse. Luckily she goes right back to sleep.
• getting too big for her swing. She still likes her play mat and bouncy seat though.
• getting cuter by the day. Don't you think that's the way it is with kids? Every day she gets a little more smiley, a little more alert and I see her personality come through a little more.
• still a total mama's girl. Russ just thinks she likes to be close to her food source. :-) 

The last two pictures were taken seconds apart. The first before she realized I was there and the second as soon as she saw me. Don't you wish you got a smile like that every time someone saw you? It's pretty fun.

Splish Splash - Part II

This summer has been a little low on pool time. Not that any one thing is to blame for that, but a new baby and a move definitely contributed. Fortunately our new place has a community pool and we made good use of it the last week before it closed for the season. We also got to visit a friend's pool and found it's even more fun to swim with friends.

 

Natalie and her cute friend Ava. (Thanks for the pictures, Tiffany!)

Cousins

Technically, Natalie and Sophia are first cousins once removed, but that's all a bit complicated for two little girls who aren't quite 2 and 3 years old, respectively.  So we call them plain-old cousins and I hope that they grow into good buddies. They already play together well and I'm glad we live close so they can continue to develop their friendship.
We attended the baby blessing for Sophia's new brother, William, last Sunday and I snapped a few shots of the girls afterward. Such cuties, aren't they?

And then they were done. I expect I'll see similar facial expressions when they are teenagers...Scary.