Welcome Alison

I am happy to say that another friend is now blogging.  Welcome to our world Alison.  I can't wait to keep up with the Crane boys.

How Cute Is This?

Ride for Two

Sarah Ellen enjoyed her first bike trailer ride last week on a trip to the park. I am very excited about the fun this will bring this spring.

Princess Sarah Ellen

Lily is making sure that her little sister knows the proper attire of a princess.  I see many days of dress up in our future.

Chefs in Training

Lily and Porter (her twin) had fun "helping" me cook.  Who knew that a bucket of macaroni could give me a good 45 minutes to cook dinner?                They took their job of filling up the measuring cup very seriously and worked well as a cooking team.  

                   Before I knew it, the floor was covered in macaroni.  This only created another fun game of picking up all the noodles.   Don't worry I didn't use these noodles to cook with - but don't think I didn't think about it - they are boiled after all.  I didn't think, however, that the occasional dog hair would be too appetizing.

                    Porter joined us for dinner, and after, he and Lily bolted upstairs to play.  James and I actually enjoyed a few moments sitting on the couch after dinner - a rarity in the post-dinner pre-bedtime routine.  Porter, when can you join us again?

Sarah Ellen is Nine Months

I can't believe my sweet little baby is closer to a year old than a newborn. Where does the time go? She is certainly not a newborn anymore.

This little bug is getting to wherever she desires to go. She just this week is officially crawling in the technical sense (four point reciprocal crawling), but for months she has been very mobile. She commando crawls, bear crawls, rolls, and basically is all over the place.

Sarah Ellen continues to be a good eater. She takes three bottles a day, 6-8 ounces each. She is now eating three solid meals a day. I'm still sticking with baby foods, as she has some texture aversions. She gags on anything that is slightly thick. I was determined to make her baby food, but I don't think she will take it so Gerber will have to do for now. She does enjoy the occasional veggie puff now and then.

She is an active little thing and likes getting into things that she shouldn't: drawers, the fire place, under chairs. And she gets very put out when she is gently moved to a more suitable play thing. She continues to have a good set of lungs and is quite the yeller, whether happy or sad. Her scream is rather ear piercing.

Sleep continues to go well. Sarah Ellen naps for an hour to an hour and half in the morning and about two hours in the afternoon. She goes to bed at night around eight and wakes around seven. She fusses some before falling asleep, but much prefers to go down on her own. I occasionally try to rock her, but she fights it for all it is worth. I have another independent, non-snuggly baby.

She got a good report at her nine month well baby visit today. Our pediatrician had a hard time not calling her Lily. She said they look like twins. Here are her latest stats:

• Height: 27.5 inches (50th percentile)
• Weight: 17 pounds, 8 ounces (25th percentile)
• Head Circumference: 44.5 cm (70th percentile)

Sarah Ellen is looking more and more like Lily these days. It's amazing how they don't look much like me and James, but look a lot like each other.

Lily's Birthday Party

What a fun morning.  Lily was very excited about her party and couldn't wait for her friends to arrive.  We received a double dose of bad news that morning.  The Smith boys couldn't make it due to a yucky fever and Doncie finally succumbed to the nasty stomach bug.  We missed them all very much.

As our guests came in, they all found there names on "Sesame Street" to color.

 

We then took turns putting the alphabet back together after it had been scattered all over the room.

Then is was time for the bean bag toss (feeding Oscar in his trash can).                   

                    "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to."   Birthday excitement, cake, and loud chaos can make a three year old a bit fussy.

                    Thomas and Riley trying to figure out what is this pink thing that looks like a little house. 

                    Don't worry, Abigail stepped in to show them all about it.     

                    The babies enjoyed Oscar's trash can as well.

                                                Abigail created a new bean bag game - hide the baby.

Thank you all for celebrating Lily's third birthday with us.