Floor Time

Lucy enjoyed spending time on the floor:
She also practiced her pushups:By the end of the visit she was successfully making it to her knees. Now that we are home she has been rocking on her knees. Ben is excited to show her how to crawl- he doesn't realize all the implications of her new mobility.
Thanks to Aunt Britney for sharing her bow-making expertise!

A Little Mishap

While in Arizona, Ben loved to pet the cat. The cat, being the usually self-interested animal that cats are, actively avoided this. So the inevitable chase scenes followed. At one point Benjamin followed the cat off the porch, out of the yard, and into some trees, all this while wearing no shoes. The unfortunate result of this expedition was a cut on the foot, probably caused by stepping on broken glass. There was quite a bit of blood, some screaming, and some limping for a few days. Here he is showing off his bandaged foot:He also tripped and fell several times resulting in these bruises on the right side of his face (2 separate causes):It didn't slow him down too much:
Here are some photos of how he kept himself busy:

Up, Up and Away...

As many of you know, Benjamin, Lucy and I recently took a trip to Arizona. The multiple airplane rides went quite well, especially considering the circumstances of getting up early to travel. Our travel time was 14 hours one way and 16 coming home, with only one meltdown in the Charlotte airport when we stopped to take a break and Benjamin thought that meant we were not going home after all!

Traveling with a two year old and a baby does not really lend itself to pictures, but here are a few of the trip:
Benjamin's favorite part of the trip was watching the airplanes. He spent lots of time staring out the window, especially on our long layovers in Houston and Cleveland:

This is the boy getting some much needed sleep on the final leg of the trip from Cleveland to Charlotte. He had gotten about 4 hours of sleep the night before, then slept about 1/2 hour on the earlier flight, so it was really quite amazing that he was so well-behaved!If only I could be so comfortable in an airplane seat...This is what Lucy did:She hung out on my lap and tried to get into everything: drinks, Benjamin's toys and blankie, airplane safety information, and people riding in the seat next to us! She was rarely fussy and figured out by our last flight that nursing helps your ears feel better.

Reunited

Here are some pictures of the babies while they visited their Grandparents in Arizona.

Tomato is good, ain't it boy?!

Nothing quiet like hearing Granddaddy ask: Tomato good, ain't it boy? as those juices and seeds start accumulating everywhere!

From the Same stock

Lucy can sit up for minutes all on her own!

Benjamin in Blue

Ben has recently rediscovered some older toys. The hammer gained new life when he saw Daddy hammering shelves together. He likes to hammer too, so when I pointed out the loop on his shorts that is for carrying hammers, he had to try it out:


Can you find all four family members in this shot?

Forget Standing, Let's Crawl!

Lucy is starting to scoot around. She mostly goes backwards or turns in circles. The other day I had to extricate her from under the chair!

She likes to push up on her hands and get as far off the floor as possible.

And her most exciting accomplishment (look closely):

Yes, her body is completely off the ground. She is holding all her weight on her hands and feet. I have seen her be much higher up than this, but you all will have to be content with this photo as it is hard to catch it (she is not the camera-hound her big brother is). She still doesn't seem to have thought of bringing her knees up to support her weight, but once she does, look out world!

Granddaddy's House

We recently spent a few days at Grandmama and Granddaddy's house. Benjamin is really starting to enjoy playing with cousin Kayligrace (he calls her "Kay-gracie"). Here they are in a quiet moment watching videos on Granddaddy's computer. Their favorite is "Five Little Monkeys."

Playing with Granddaddy's hat:

Playing with Grandmama:

Lucy loves her brother; she spent most of the time watching the antics of the bigger children with bright eyes and waving arms. She is quite good at sitting up and her balance is improving, but she is not interested in sitting at all- she's working on standing up!

Now for some shots of the stars: