52 : 42 (part 3)

Oh Santa, you were so so so good to our sweet boy. Ewan and his co-pilot had a glorious time driving around the neighborhood early Christmas morning. The only gift that came close to his Boss 302 Mustang was his Sheriff Woody doll, which Darby got him. Taking Ewan shopping for his sister was probably one of the best parts of holiday preparations, he is very in to rainbows (always singing a song about the rainbow) these days, and he picked a big pink CareBear for her, Cheer Bear to be specific, which has a rainbow across her belly and a pink heart nose, and when Darby opened it they were both so excited.

Darby 35/52

An 8 month Darby is 20 pounds 4 ounces and 27.5 inches. She picks food up, her own and her friends, and puts it in her mouth. She crawls at an amazingly quick pace and cruises from couch, to coffee table, to chair, to a parent's leg with out so much as pausing. She is deeply loved by her family, especially her brother, and is a super strong chick when he is a little too rough. From everything we can tell she is busily devising her plan to kick his butt the minute she is able. Her teachers think she will walk by 9 months, but Mama is in denial, and will only accept 10 as an option... we shall see. Today she celebrated her first Christmas, while she did not love Santa when she met him, she did adore the holiday - she received a crawling tunnel from Santa and loved ripping the paper from each of her gifts.

Darby Moira - 8 Months

52 : 41 (part 3)

Ewan has been awaiting the release of "Penguins" as he is a very big fan of the animal movies, more formally known as the Madagascar films. We told him that we would see the movie over the weekend and he could hardly wait. After a nice breakfast it was finally time and this boy basically bounced to his seat in the theatre, he enjoyed every piece of popcorn, laughed hysterically at many jokes, and was so glad his sissy slept through the entire thing. He also enjoyed looking at all the movie posters and making his must see list for 2015!

Darby 34/52

Growing so quickly and becoming more participative in classroom activities. Darby and her friends do fun stuff at school, largely to help them explore their senses, and one of our favorites to see is naked baby painting... so cute and it is always fun to find paint behind knees and between toes. 

Darby 33/52

This girl has decided she has no physical limits as evidenced by a bruise on her face that she got while trying walk. Yes, walk! This week she moved to crawling on all fours, no more army crawl, pulling up on anything remotely stable, cruising a few feet in each direction, and standing with no hands... I repeat no hands. Someone needs to remind baby lady that  she is only 7.5 months old.

52 : 40 (part 3)

We may be getting to the terrible part of the 2s, but it may be too soon to tell. And based on what we have seen we suppose that this boy's terribles are rather tame compared to others (hopefully this does not jinx us). His terribles look like a boy that can't seem to listen to his mama and daddy, nor can he focus on being gentle with his sister, nor can he pick up his toys. He is very passionate about all that he does and all that he is not allowed to do. Ewan is definitely testing the limits and contemplating a shift where he becomes the boss, but we still love him, and between outbursts he covers us in kisses and hollers, "I love you!"

Ewan Porter - 2 Years 9 Months

Darby 32/52

And just like that, at 7 months and 5 days, she pulled herself to a standing position... We are going to have to call in reinforcements soon.

52 : 39 (part 3)

This boy is always up for a good cuddle. Over the weekend we took a mini-break to Napa and Ewan was happy to explore the area with his sister. During some evening downtime Ewan wanted to snuggle with his Darby so he asked to climb in her crib with her for a hang out, and in preparation for our upcoming Disneyland trip he wanted to introduce her to Mickey Mouse!

Darby 31/52

7 months! This lady is a screeching, crawling, 4 toothed dynamo. She is quick, she is funny, and she keeps us all on our toes! For her first Thanksgiving she enjoyed stuffing and whipped cream, quite the well rounded meal for our littlest love.

Darby Moira - 7 Months

52 : 38 (part 3)

While this kid was in to Halloween, and is in to Christmas, we couldn't get him to bite on Thanksgiving. He enjoyed Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving and Mayflower Voyagers (a lesser known Peanuts classic), but he didn't seem to care much for the food except for the pumpkin pie. We genuinely think his favorite part of this holiday was holding the grocery list and checking things off the list.

52 : 37 (part 3)

Still no pressure on the potty training here, but there may have been a little bit of bribing recently to get over a certain hump... #buzzlightyearforthewin. And the goal is that no future posts will include the word potty, these were just too cute not to commemorate.

Darby 30/52

A few weeks back Darby started swimming lessons. She has teacher Gina, Ewan's favorite, and is doing very well. She loves the water and seems to enjoy the class, especially watching the other babies. This is our sweet mama and Darby time in the water and we love it. In other news Darby's 3rd tooth popped through this week, her top front right tooth.

52 : 36 (part 3)

There is this boy... He is 2 years and 8 months old. He is just over 40 inches and just over 40 pounds. He is a hugger and a kisser and may be the sweetest boy around. He is happiest when he smells like sunscreen and sweet sweat from an awesome day. There is nothing terrible about him or his twos and I sincerely hope I remember everything about this time with him for the rest of my life. He made me a Mom and I will always thank him for that.

Ewan Porter - 2 Years 8 Months

Darby 29/52

Big week for this girl... First time in a restaurant highchair and a shopping cart, plus she started blowing raspberries and crawling. It's all too much and too fast, this mama doesn't want to talk about it.

52 : 35 (part 3)

Costumes this year were dictated by Ewan. When we asked him what he wanted to be for Halloween he said, "a Farmer." And when we asked what Darby should be, without skipping a beat he said, "my sheep." Done and done.

This was the first year that Ewan REALLY cared about Halloween. Everywhere we have gone for the last month he has noticed the pumpkins, usually asking for one, which has allowed us to amass over a dozen that are sitting happily on our porch. He also carved his first pumpkin this year, which instantly drove him to want to carve all of them, but we were able to shift his focus to lighting up the one that we did carve.

All of the decorations really excited him and his Halloween story books and Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin have been on heavy rotation. Ewan had fun trick or treating, chatting with all of our neighbors and building his candy collection. The night of halloween we allowed him one reese's cup and some sour skittles, and the first thing he requested when he woke up on November 1st was more candy! 

Darby 28/52

Costumes this year were dictated by Ewan. When we asked him what he wanted to be for Halloween he said, "a Farmer." And when we asked what Darby should be, without skipping a beat he said, "my sheep." Done and done.

Darby enjoyed her first Halloween, although she was definitely a bit overwhelmed by the headgear for her sheep costume. She had fun being carried from house to house while Ewan trick or treated, meeting some of our neighbors for the first time. 

52 : 34 (part 3)

This week Ewan's Great Aunt Char, who lives in Massachusetts, came to visit us during a West Coast tour she took. This was the first time she got to meet Ewan and Darby and we had a great time. She and Ewan bonded quickly over a trip to the zoo, burgers and stickers at In-N-Out, and pizza dough at Il Fornaio. It was a great three days that definitely sent a trip to Cape Cod to the top of our travel list so that we can see her again soon! 

Darby 27/52

Oh Peanut,

How have 6 months passed? I was looking at your monthly pictures with your Daddy today and we were both amazed at how much you have grown, and how different you look from your 5th month, this last month was a big one for you. You measure 26.75in (81%) and weigh 19lbs 5.4ozs (93%), which is truly impressive. Your pediatrician says you are awesome and your skills are well beyond your age. 

You impress us everyday with your enviable disposition, your sweet full-body smiles, and your amazingly firm grip (on our clothes, our hair, our cups, our nostrils - you name it). You have two bottom teeth (but your top two are blistering as I type this), you sit like such a big girl, crawl in circles at a truly dizzying rate, are eating fruits/veggies/puffs/yogurt, and are a wicked flirt. 

You make everyday better for everyone lucky enough to spend time with you. There is no one in this world like you baby girl and we thank our lucky stars multiple times a day that you are ours. 

Keep up the great growing, the sweet smiles, and the conquering of every milestone little love. 

Sweet Snuggles, 

Mama

Darby Moira - 6 Months

Darby 26/52

This lady is loving food more and more. Her current favorite puree is butternut squash, which her teachers say she slurps up with amazing enthusiasm. She also still seems to like peas and enjoyed carrots, up next are apples. We also let her play with whole foods, which is common in other parts of the world and is referred to as baby led weaning. When we do this she does not eat much, but she sure enjoys sitting at the table with us and playing with her food!

52 : 33 (part 3)

We are easing our way in to potty training over here. We do not want it to be unnecessarily stressful, and in all reality we just are not worried about it or for that matter committed to it. This last weekend Ewan spent the better part of Sunday in underwear, well truly two pairs, as he said, "I need one for my butt and one for my head." We checked in frequently to see if he needed to use the bathroom and of all his retorts our favorite was, "In a minute, I am hanging out with my dad."