Blue Crayola appetizer followed with an entree of peanut butter

I love it when we get messy - and I'm pretty sure you do too Harper.  The other day you colored your face while I sat next to you approving your behavior.  I told you, "if you want to color your face that's fine, but it means we will have a lot of scrubbing to do later".  You happily continued with your blue beard while I sat there and thought about the wonderful picture opportunity it would be.  What kind of crazy mom am I? Letting my child color all over her face so I can take a cute picture later? Well that part yes, but also, why not? We always need to ask that of a child. Why not let you experiment with how it felt, what it looked like, and even what it tasted like. As a result we got a lot of giggles out of the project and as you can see I got some great photos to save for your high school yearbook:

I have to be brief today because naps are not going very smoothly. Zoie you are teething, and although you haven't cut any actual teeth yet, you are chomping on everything like a little rabbit.  Five months has been great thus far and in just a few days you're going to be 6 months old. A whole half year has gone by. WHEW! Let's see.....if I had to sum it up into a list this week, I suppose I would save a bit of time.

Harper. Five Things About YOU:
--You rocked out at the Kirkland Library's story time for "ones" last week - you jumped and flapped your arms for 30 minutes and got all the kids around you going. It was hilarious. You have started to sing the songs with the rest of the group as well....so cute. You love the song "Open Shut Them".
--You discovered sidewalk chalk at the park the other day. Another mom was nice and shared with you, and you walked around and drew a little green chalky scribble on every hard surface you could find. Marking your toddler graffiti all over the benches, sidewalk, slides, rocks, you name it!
--You are fascinated with sticks and pick them up wherever you find them. You always make sure that there are sticks for mommy and daddy as well. You often offer them to other kids at the park, who look at you like, "hey, okay, maybe this is a good thing to play with....your mommy lets you play with this"?
--You have been very interested in cooking and always want to be involved with what I'm doing in the kitchen. You love to dump the measuring cups and stir, stir, stir.  You even baked cookies with daddy and sat on the counter almost the entire time.
--You have been such a fabulous sister with Zoie. When you're jumping on the bed you always demand to me "Soie jump"....because you want me to pretend to jump her on the bed with you.  I told you I was going to put Zoie on the floor with you to play and you said to me, "Boppy"....and you went and retrieved it and set it on the floor near your toys. (We place Zoie in the Boppy while she's sitting so it protects her if she falls over...it's a C shaped pillow). You always bring toys to her. And just recently when she's crying you've started telling her "Soie Soie....no trying (crying).....Soie pop Soie pop......no trying!" It's so funny to hear you demand her to stop, or demand her to play with a particular toy, and then take another out of her hands saying "LET TOE!!!" (LET GO!!) Ahhhhhh, sisters.

Zoie. Five Things About YOU:
-- You are ALMOST sitting up on your own. SO EXCITING! That makes a huge difference in your play time, and you are much happier sitting playing with Harper than laying on your back.  You are reaching for toys and putting everything you grab directly in your mouth. I have to be careful because Harper keeps trying to feed you goldfish crackers, which I don't doubt you will stick in your mouth.
--You have discovered the cat. Every time you see one of them you track them silently with your eyes and stop with curiosity when one of them comes near you. I remember this with Harper too, fascinated by the cats. In fact, I think Harper crawled for the first time in order to reach Satchmo.
-- You are becoming quite the little flirt, giving anyone who gives you eye contact a huge toothless grin. You're definitely a cute little conversation starter, with kids and adults alike. We've been calling you "Zoie Pop", it just seems to stick...and when we sing "Zoie Pop, Zoie Pop (to the tune of Lollipop) you grin at us and laugh. It's so funny!
--You are FINALLY starting to sleep a little better at night. You have about 5 good nights in a row, and then 1 or 2 horrible ones. BUT, aside from those 2 nights you are sleeping pretty soundly - getting up at 1:00 and 5:00 to nurse and sleeping until about 8 am.  Perfect as far as I'm concerned, and way, way, better than where we were just 4 weeks ago.  Those two horrible nights are still pretty horrible though, so we just need to work that last bit of midnight madness out of your system and get on a 7 day schedule. I can't complain though, like I said, better now than one month ago!
-- You are loving rice cereal and eat it every day at lunch with Harper. We can't wait to start some sweet potatoes and pears, I just have to remember to pick some up at the grocery store the next time we're there. Time to get down the mini food processor and the stacks of ice cube trays. Homemade baby food here we come, AGAIN!!

Your mama loves you two :)

Back to the blog.....

I'm back! I had to take a hiatus while my brand new computer was being "fixed", which seemed like an unbearably LONG time. 
Let's see....it's still raining here in Seattle so that's not really new news. The swans left Juanita Bay and flew to their summer nesting grounds (where, I don't know)...so our walks to the bay have been a little less uneventful. To be honest, I haven't really taken many walks because Zoie is getting too heavy to walk with in the pack, while pushing Harper in the stroller.  We really need a double stroller and then we will continue our walks on a more frequent basis.  Someday soon hopefully, and it'll be just in time for the weather to get warmer.

Harper your language has really taken off these past few weeks! You are using sentences more frequently, and you've increased your adjectives that you use to describe things.  You noticed that your skin is "hot" the other day when I was dressing you - after putting your hands on your bare belly you looked at me with question in your eyebrows and said, "hot?" "belly hot?".  I told you that you didn't need your pacifier one day and I took it and put it in my pocket.  You said "no mama!", "I neet it.....for ma mouf".  Not only do you want it, but you need it for your mouth! So astute you are. We have been playing on the floor with the farm house a lot, and you have taken to feeding all of the animals & your bears and dolls with a small spoon that you "cook" with (I've given you recycled yogurt, juice, and butter containers).  You always offer Zoie a taste too, which is so cute.  You also put your shoes on for the first time all by yourself the other day! I was so excited for you, and we clapped and cheered and did a little dance.  You were so proud of yourself, I just love seeing the smile on your face when you know you've accomplished something big. 

Zoie.... you're five months already! I remember 5 months being a great month with Harper, so much changes and grows during this particular month for some reason.  You've started moving your arms and hands with aim and purpose, always reaching and grasping for things to feel and then put in your mouth.  You are SUCH A HAPPY BABY (most days) and you laugh at your sister and me all day long.  You love the "excer-saucer" that you can stand/sit in and cruise around a circle of toys on your own.  You squeal and talk and coo, it is truly hilarious to watch your eyes "as big as saucers" every time something makes noise or moves. You are SO close to rolling over from your back to your tummy, but not quite as of today. I'll bet that by the end of the month you'll be rolling all over the place.  You are also almost able to sit up on your own, not quite, but also very, very close. We've started feeding you rice cereal every day which you are starting to like quite a bit.  Harper also likes your feeding time, as she comes over and sneaks bites of your baby gruel, which she approves and shakes her head "yeah" after each bite. Crazy girl.  Yesterday she wanted to jump on the bed and then shouted at me "Soie, Soie!" and insisted that I put you up on the bed to "jump" with her.  (I hold you under your arms and pretend to jump you on the bed).....Harper then runs out to the living room, demands music, and starts to dance, and then repeats "Soie, Soie!" because she wants you to dance with her.  I do the same thing, pretend to dance you around the living room, both of you cracking up and Harper jumping and then landing on the floor on her butt. You have the widest toothless grin on your face, reaching out to hold Harper's hand and her grabbing yours in return.  It gave me the best vision of about 6-7 months from now, when you will be able to walk and dance around the living room with her.  Sisters giggling and playing together. I can't wait to see it! But I know I need to enjoy my baby snuggles with you while you are still so soft and tiny. I love kissing your little cheeks and neck just to get you to giggle.  Such a sweet sound those baby laughs so hearty and uninhibited. 

Alright, nap time is just about over...so I'm signing off so I can enjoy my last few minutes of silence with a good book. 

Your mama loves you two.