The Big Thaw

March is that time of year here in New England where the mountains of snow rapidly shrink until they're gone and all that remains is sloppy muddy earth that just begs to be stomped in.

So we did the stomping and the puddle jumping and soaked in the warm temperatures (I'm talking 40 degress here people!) And we FINALLY spent more than 20 minutes outside. We recharged on some of our vitamin d and got excited for the warm weather to come.

We broke out our tree swing and gave Paisley her first push. She loved it!

In true New Englander (I wanted to say Vermonter there but realized although I may still be Haper is definitely not) style we improvised a way to get out and start riding bikes before the snow had totally melted. We hit up the local tennis courts before the nets went up. Perfect soft ground with a fenced in safety zone. It was awesome and so was Harper she really took to peddling this year in no time. And I have to say, the tennis court was soooo much better then peddling back and forth in our garage, girl's got some get up and go! You can see more about this day here.

It's also that time of year where you spend one day playing outside for hours and sunning yourself on the front steps and the next day the temperature doesn't get above 30 degrees and you have a freak snow storm that cancels schools and calls snow plows back out. For those days we had a back up plan.

Finger paints, puzzles, paper dolls, playdates and trips to the library. Our last ditch effort to get through the end of winter and get us closer to walks to the park and picnic lunches.

 

 We filled the rest of March with a trip to Maine to say goodbye to Leah, Ryan, Theo & Ana's first home together. I got a little sentimental that this was the house we brought Bella to the very first day we got her. I can only imagine how Leah felt bringing her two babies home there. But they are on to new and exciting things. New house, new town, very exciting. In the meantime we'll have to change up our visit routine but I'm hoping it won't slow us down.

I helped plan a "surprise" shower for Dana and baby #3 this month. Despite her dislike of crowds, especially those that are focusing all of their attention on her, Dana enjoyed herself and baby M got lots of goodies. Now we get to wait and see if we're having a new baby boy or baby girl to add to our clan.

Pat and Steph also brought exciting news this month. They found out the baby they're expecting is going to be a BOY! Hurray for babies and for boys. We all all excited for this new little man to join us. Harper is especially anxious...I think the next 5 months will be long for her!

Harper and Paisley are both getting so big. Paisley has been sitting up for about a month now and she's good. Totally steady and confident. She's even showing signs of crawling. She gets up on all fours and does the rocking thing. I remember it so fondly with Harper but surely thought it wouldn't happen this fast. Time flies and if P is on track with her sister she should be crawling in about 2 weeks. I'll be surprised if she's not. Unbelievable.

Paisley turned 6 months on April 1st. We took her to the pediatrician and she doing great. Still recovering from an ear infection but it's not slowing her down. She weighs 15 lbs 6 oz and is 27" long (that's the 60th percentile folks...I might just have a future super model on my hands here.) She truely is the happiest baby I've ever known. It's astonishing how good tempered she is. She sleeps well and loves to cuddle and she's totally smitten with her big sister.

Harper is getting more and more confident every day. Her language is constantly improving and she comes out with some big words. We've been renting movies at the library to take the place of the TV we no longer have and it's been interesting to watch her come up with games to play inspired from what she's watched. Such as Olivia or a Little Einsteins movie she enjoys. We play a game where she buckles all our seat belts and we say "blast off".

She still loves puzzles and has totally mastered all the ones we own.

Sometimes at school on Friday's when we sing the song where you sit on your mom's lap like you're riding a horse Harper will go sit on the teacher's lap instead of mine. Harper 1 year ago wouldn't have dreamed of doing this. And the other day at the park she asked me if she could go play with some bigger girls. I said sure and she went up to them and just stood there. They were probably 7 or 8 and totally uninterested in my tiny lady but she was brave and when she came back and said they were playing with grass and didn't want to play with her. So, we decided we'd play with grass together. She was totally satisfied pulling up grass with Paisley and I and P really enjoyed her first experience with grass. Wait till it turns green and soft girl...you're in for a treat!

I'm changing things up with the blog. Trying to post a little more often than once a month. Check in now and then and I'll still send out a monthly email when I remember.