I swear I was only gone for a minute

Today I left Simon playing like this:



I came back to this:



I think he might have had help from a little girl named Miriam:



They were playing so quietly and being happy that I had no idea!

E I E I O

Miriam reading/singing her book before bed tonight. Enjoy!

Miriam reading Old MacDonald from Vanessa Bishop on Vimeo.

the end of an era

After nearly 32 wonderful months Miriam has finally figured out that she can get out of bed on her own. It is hard to believe that it has never occurred to her earlier. Even though she has been in her big girl bed for about 8 months now, she never got out of bed until we came to get her. Sadly for me, with this new found freedom has come earlier mornings. I don't know why, but this past week she has been waking up around 7:00 am. I know that most of you are saying why is seven so early. You see, Miriam has always been a great sleeper. Up until this past winter she rarely woke up before 9:00 am. Recently she started waking up between 8:00 and 8:30 am. It was great to be able to sleep in while I was pregnant with Simon. So, this past week or so Miriam (and Simon for that matter, but that is a different story) has been up by 7:30 am. She did wake up at 6:30 am one day and I told her to go back to sleep... which she did. Oh well, what can you do. I guess I will just have to get used to this new morning routine.

Good morning Miriam!

Simon loves his big sister

Simon has really started talking and laughing this past week. He is really stubborn with his happy noises though. He doesn't give them out to just anyone. Miriam can really do the trick. He is happy if he can see his big sister...

Miriam entertaining Simon from Vanessa Bishop on Vimeo.

...Miriam was dancing and he was just laughing away.

Experimenting

Today was just one of those days where I had the camera out all day trying to capture some fun moments. I took over 100 pictures of the kids today. I have been reading a lot of photography blogs trying to learn some tips on making the most of my camera. Remember how I got Photoshop for Christmas? Well, I am really trying to learn more about it and so my reading comes in handy there too.

Here are a couple of the sites I like:

Mom*Tog
Mom and Camera
The Coffee Shop Blog
I Heart Faces

Here are some of the pictures I took today. I haven't edited them yet, but I am looking forward to getting to it... someday.

Four Month Doctor Appointment

Simon had his doctor appointment this morning. You want to know how big he is? He weighs 17 lbs 11 oz (90%) and is 26 inches long (90%). Miriam was 15 lbs 9 oz and also 26 inches. I knew he was getting awfully heavy!

Simon is a really good baby. I feel like I haven't posted much about him besides pictures. After he was born adjusting to two kids was a challenge. I figured if nothing else I should at least post some pictures. Now that I feel like I have more time I thought I better write a little bit about him so I won't forget. He is becoming extremely social and wants anyone and everyone to talk to him. He loves watching Miriam and grabs at her all the time. Simon loves to play with toys. From the moment he figured out how to grab at them he wants to have something in his hands at all times. He gets really excited when you get a toy for him.

Simon has been sleeping in his crib for about 2 weeks now. He started sleeping 6-7 hours when he was about six weeks old, but since he is sharing a room with Miriam we wanted to wait until he was sleeping longer. He started sleeping 8-9 hours about a month and a half ago so we decided to make the move. It has gone pretty well. He still has his nights where he doesn't sleep as well, but Miriam is really good about going back to sleep if she gets woken up. If he wakes up to eat after 6:30 or 7:00 AM, I just put him in our bed instead of going back in. Michael leaves for work by 6:30 anyway, so there is plenty of room.

snuggling up in our bed

We think Simon is the cutest boy ever! It has been so fun watching the differences between having a boy and having a girl. He sure can brighten your day if you are ever feeling down. I mean how can you resist those big blue eyes?

W or 3

As usual, after rocking Miriam for her nap she looked at me and held up one finger and asked for one more minute. I said we could do one more minute, then she immediately responded with two more minutes holding up two fingers. Again I said two minutes was fine. Then she got a sneaky look on her face, held up three fingers and said, "W more minutes".

W

three

We have been working on learning numbers one through ten in sign language. She is such a smarty pants sometimes. It can be confusing when most people hold up "W" for "3" when counting.

four months

Simon is four months old. I can't believe how much he has changed. He is getting so big, so fast. We are excited to take him to the doctor next week to see just how much he has grown. I will post more about him when we get back. For now here are some pictures over the past 4 months.

one month


two months


three months


four months

Miriam's View

I got a new phone a couple of weeks ago and Miriam has been wanting to play with it constantly, she mostly wants to take pictures. Yesterday I had the brilliant idea to find our old camera for her to play with. Let's just say she hasn't put it down. Here are a few of her great shots in the past couple of days. In other words, Miriam's view.

Watching Signing Time

Mommy rocking Simon

Simon

Couch (she had about 20 just like this)

Toys

Pantry

Top of dresser

Dad rocking Simon

Setting the table (with new clothes)

Helping make dinner (whoa, check out the butter)

Laughing Simon

Simon has started laughing a lot when you interact with him.
Enjoy the cute video.