I took this photo around New Year's Day, the tree was in the process of being dismantled. Ro carried his rocking chair and stool from his room. I guess he just needed a moment to relax. Being 2 is a lot of work you  know. ;)

Peas!

Aislinn gobbled up her first real, non-cereal food. She's been doing so well with rice cereal and oatmeal cereal, but I wasn't sure how well she would like food with more flavor. "They" say a baby will typically eat just a couple bites of a new food you are introducing, so I made up a couple of 1/2 cup serving of peas and she LOVED them. As in, between her first two meals today, they are almost gone. So I guess I'll be heading back to the kitchen. This baby girl sure loves her food! This is great, maybe we can fatten her up a little bit. :)

Oh and if I turn my back for a minute to attend to Ronan, I turn around to her feeding herself with the spoon (despite the fact that I put it out of her reach...or so I thought).

What?! She's growing up so fast!

Tea Party

Oh hello. Let's just pretend that it hasn't been over a month since I posted. :) December was a wonderfully busy, fun, festive and busy month. Did I mention busy? This little blog was dead last on my long list of priorities. Making memories and starting family traditions was right on top and it was a great month. I have a lot of pictures that I hope to post one day. Moving right along...

I walked in on this sweet scene yesterday. Their first tea party. Aww. It pretty much melted my heart.

They are going to be best buds. They are also going to drive each other crazy. Ronan is pretty particular about how we are supposed to play with him [a bossy first child? Never heard of such a thing. ;)] and Aislinn definitely doesn't do it the "right way." She's getting pretty grabby too so his world is quickly changing. Gotta love siblings. :) I love it!

Someday in the not-so-distant future she'll be able to fight back

After the pretend tea party, I decided we needed to have a real milk and cookies party. :) Ronan helped me make chocolate chip cookies and then we invited daddy to take a study break with us.

No, those are not all his cookies - we all shared that stack :)

Aislinn l 7 months

Happy 7 months little one! We love all of the changes this month has brought. Aislinn started solid foods at 6 months and eats like a champ. She is starting to sit up so well, still with cushions for protection because she is prone to random back arching and over-reaching for toys. She is getting so much stronger though. No signs of crawling yet, she still gets upset when she rolls over onto her stomach and hasn't really figured out how to get back over onto her back.

Aislinn (and Ronan) got a second cold this month. Ay yi yi. Two colds in three weeks for both kids. Add to that some serious teething (but no teeth yet) and we've been feeling a little sleep deprived this month!

As always, Aislinn is so content to watch her family. Not just content, but happy. I can tell though, that she is starting to get interested in actually interacting more. I love how she kicks her legs when she's happy. Ronan used to flail his arms. She does the same with her legs. :)  Ais is absolutely a mama's girl, but she sure gets excited to see her daddy. Really, really excited. She loves to be held by mom while looking at dad.

New aspects of Aislinn's personality started to emerge at the end of the month. On Christmas day she got her first baby doll and she loves to look at it and talk up a storm; "ba,ba,ba,ba."  She gets really talkative when she's tired. It would be easy to think she's playing, but when she starts into her monologues, I know it's bedtime. :)  Other than that, no "mamama" or "dada" yet, but we're working on it!  She has added grunting, eye squinting and nose scrunching to her verbal and non-verbal vocab. Such a funny little girl.

I have many nick names for Aislinn. Baby Girl, Little Ais, Crazy Aizy, Little Miss, Little Sis, Sweetie Pie, Missy Moo, Aisy Paisy Poo (this one is totally earned~every single new outfit is broken in with a blowout; the girl bewilders me, so sweet yet so full of poo), Little Bird (such a squawker). My favorite way to hear her name though is "Baby Azeen." Ronan started saying her name this month and it is the sweetest thing ever. I can't wait to hear her say his name too!!

she loves belly kisses!