Happy 9 months, Elsie!

Elsie is 9 months old! Woahhhhhhhhh. How did that happen? If my math is correct, that means she'll be a year old in just 3 more months. She's a busy gal these days — crawling, 'speaking' (gagagaga, dadadada), pulling herself up, standing and snuggling. She loves playing with the train set with her older bro, splashing in the bath (and during swimming lessons), reading Goodnight Moon, standing up by the toy kitchen, trying to get her hands on Freddie's Big Bird and Baby Kearns, crawling away as fast as she can when it's time to change her diaper and eating rice cakes. What a gal! Boy do we love her. Happy 9 months Els!

Can't believe Mama found the sticker!

Go Hawks! Excited for the big game Sunday.

We know that one!

Huddling together for warmth

Freddie has been really into music lately. He always sings himself a few songs before he falls asleep at night, sometimes adjusting the lyrics to fit the day/his mood ('Twinkle twinkle little pizza'). And one of our favorite activities is an after-dinner dance party — we blast 'Skip to My Loo' and take off down the hall or get every stuffed animal down from the shelves and throw them in the air (watch out Elsie!) while singing along to Raffi's version of 'Pick a Bale O'Cotton.'

Speaking of perhaps the biggest musical influence of my childhood other than my dad, we recently received some fantastic Raffi CDs from my parents. Some kids songs can really grate on your nerves, with the overly enthusiastic vocals and extremely peppy music, but Raffi is actually quite enjoyable to listen to. 

A lot of the songs on the CDs were new to us, but every time one was played that Freddie knew (either because we have it on another CD or I sing it around the house), he shouted "We know that one!!!!" very excitedly. It's like he's so into his own world that he can't believe that other people (my parents) know the same songs we do. 

'Baby Beluga' came on. "We know that one!" Then 'Apples and Bananas' and 'Down on Grandpa's Farm.' "WE KNOW THAT ONE!!!" "WE KNOW THAT ONE!!!" It was really cute to see him so excited.

Then, yesterday when we were out in the FREEZING cold (I cannot stress enough how cold it was) watching William run the Edinburgh Great Winter Run, he waddled (in a pair of sweats, sweater, snowsuit, jacket over the snowsuit, hat, wellies, etc.) through the snow and hail with me and Elsie over to watch the runners get warmed up to go. As usual, they had a very fit individual leading the shivering public in some pre-run exercises to some very loud, high-energy music. 

With the song blasting in our ears, Freddie in his semi-frozen state looked up at me with a huge smile on his face and said "Mama - We know that one!!!" It was Taylor Swift's "Shake it Out." 

Right before it started snowing

Wishing I'd brought my hat.

I Like To Move It, Move It

Pulling things off of shelves.

Elsie has been on the move for 3 months now. Yes, that's right — she started a worm-like maneuver when she was just over 5 months old. Shocking that the second child who is rarely held figured things out so quickly, huh! Well, boy did she ever and the gal never stops now. She can crawl with the best of 'em and I imagine sings this tune to herself at least a few times over the course of a day. 

It's been fun to watch her interact more with her older brother, especially when it comes to the classic "It's mine" toy debacle. They enjoy a good tug-of-war every now and then and have also started wrestling. Luckily, they seem to rein it in before anyone gets hurt, although I do wonder if they're going to grow up to be those siblings who bite each other. Yikes!

Push ups in her Halloween costume.

She started pulling herself up on the couch (and us) a couple weeks ago and this morning I saw her squat a little so I'm going to go ahead and predict she'll master walking before her 1st birthday. Go Elsie go!

Literally on his heels.

Heading into the kitchen to bake herself a pie.

She legitimately won this match.

Both trying to open the Goro's Christmas package.

Look at me! I'm always in my PJs.

Where there's a will, there's a way.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! How does 2015 feel so far? Futuristic? I wish I could say I stayed up to see the clock strike 12 but, to the surprise of probably no one, I fell asleep at 10:30. Luckily, I got to experience the first few hours of 2015 with my lovely daughter Elsie who woke up at 3am with a poop that not only exploded out of her diaper and through her three layers of pajamas but also onto her bleary-eyed mother. Thanks Els! I think she enjoyed that 3am bath just as much as I did.

We had a great Christmas in Ireland. With the excitement of Santa, a big family Christmas dinner, St. Stephens' Day dinner and Elsie's Christening all happening right after each other, it was a good week of unwrapping presents, playing, eating and socializing.

Instead of flying to Dublin like we usually do, we decided to take the ferry to Belfast this time. And, despite a longgggggg detour due to a landslide on the way there, it was a great move. The kids did fab in the car, the ferry was a blast and we got to bring (and take home) a LOT of stuff. Any way to avoid the wear-everything-you-own-situation-just-to-make-your-bag-light-enough for Ryanair works for me!

Here are some photo highlights of our trip:

Jammies all day

William, Elsie and her godfather Anthony

Kids table on Christmas

Elsie's Christening cake