Freya is 6 months old!

Today Freya is 6 months old. She has changed a lot this month: She grew two teeth, mastered rolling from her tummy to her back and from her back to her tummy, tasted apple sauce, and can sit up all by herself. I didn’t actually know she could sit up on her own till I tried it today for these pictures. To celebrate Freya’s half birthday we went to the Dallas Museum of Art to see their special exhibit on French still life paintings. It was a wonderful collection but Freya quickly became bored and slept through pretty much the whole thing in the Ergo carrier. Hopefully she will one day appreciate art as much as she currently appreciates naps. Look how happy she is from her nap on the art museum lawn: Some other notes about Freya at 6 months: She loves to chew on and squeeze her Sophie Giraffe teether. She still hates her car seat. I only let her play with Sophie in her car seat to even things out. Sometimes there is so much squeaking going on in the backseat that I accuse Norah or Alice of having taken Sophie for their own entertainment but it is always just Freya squeaking away. Freya loves to play peek-a-boo. Norah really enjoys playing peek-a-boo with her and is a great help with keeping Freya happy in the evenings when I’m trying to get dinner ready. Freya rolls all the time now and somehow she seems to always end up stuck under the couch and then yells at me to help her.   Here she is watching Peg + Cat with her big sisters Yesterday after an early morning bath And a week ago trying applesauce

New Years in Denver

After spending Christmas in Virginia we flew from there to Denver on the 27th. Ashley and Matt made dinner for us twice – first on Saturday night at my parents house while my mom and dad were picking us up from the airport. No good deed goes unpunished though and that night they returned to their house to discover they had been robbed. Burglars had used a crow bar to bust open their glass sliding door – breaking it – and then stolen all their electronics and Ashley’s jewelry. Ashley and Matt amazingly took it all in stride and hosted us again the next day for a pierogie making party. It was a lot of fun and I’m glad we had that great day together because unfortunately we all got pretty sick after that. Bryan and Freya were sick the week of Christmas and the day before we left I came down with a cold. Bryan and Freya went to Urgent Care on Dec 30th and both were put on antibiotics for a sinus infection and ear infection respectively. I was starting to feel a little better from my cold only to get hit with the flew on New Years Eve which sent me into urgent care as well. I was given tamiflu and it was suggested that we bring Freya back in to get her a tamiflu prescription as well. We had no energy to do anything. We just laid around my parents house while they cooked for us, cleaned up after us and tended the kids. I don’t know what Alice had but at one point she also had a fever and vomited twice in the night (once right into Norah’s hair). I’m so so so glad we had that week in Denver with my parents to take care of us rather than in Dallas with no help. Again, no good deed goes unpunished (or maybe Bryan and I are just bad luck) and they succumbed to the flu just as we were leaving and it took them a week or two to get better.

In the midst of our zombie apocalypse Norah and Alice managed to have a lot of fun in the snowThey even made a snowman with not adult help  When they were inside they played and did art projects and drank hot chocolate Bryan and I were too sick to care about celebrating New Years but my mom bought martinellis, shrimp, party hats and managed to put us into the holiday mood. The girls loved it On our last day my mom insisted that we take the girls sledding. I was so exhausted I really didn’t want to and resisted it but I’m so glad we went because it was so much fun. It really was a joy to see them coming down the hill giggling and it will be a great memory. Here’s a picture I took of Freya and my mom right before we left

Freya at 5 months

Freya was 5 months on Christmas Day. Here are some pictures of her from the week of Christmas in Norah’s pink bunting. I thought she looked so cute in this it made me *almost* wish we had more opportunities to put her in it. At 5 months Freya was just starting to cut her first teeth and there were a few occasions where we put her on her tummy, walked away, and returned to find her on her back.

Christmas in Virginia Part 3

Setting out cookies and carrots Norah received lots of nice gifts but the only thing she asked for was an Elsa dress and wig. She wrote Santa several letters and always made it very clear that she needed the wig to go along with the dress. She was so concerned about that she even wrote and illustrated a letter on Christmas Eve. She loved the dress and wore pretty much it all day. Bryan showing Freya some of her presents Baby Guy and Baby Freya in their matching reindeer jammies It’s preferable to have two grand-nuggets when you have two grandparents Alice’s favorite Christmas gift by far was a doll and a baby mosses basket Mimi made her. She hardly put it down after she opened itSaying “Thank you Mimi” Susan’s older brother Stephen spent Christmas Day with us I couldn’t decide which of these pictures to post of Uncle Stephen and Alice. I think they work best as stop motion animation

Christmas in Virginia Part 2

One of the highlights of the trip was taking the train to the Smithsonian Natural History museum The museum was great too Another highlight for the girls was playing dress up with their custom made capes by MimiAnd just hanging out with family Taylor tutored Norah in Spanish Susan was often busy cooking or baking and managed to pull off multi course meals every night for 12

Christmas in Virginia part 1

Bryan’s family was all together for Christmas. Courtney just returned from her 18 month mission to Brazil so it was wonderful to see her again and enjoy being together.

First row: Alice, Norah, Second Row: Kelsey, Baby Guy, Lindsey, Baby Freya (asleep!) Back row: Kimball, Susan, Bryan, Courtney, Taylor, Greg, Guy Bryan, Greg, Courtney, Taylor, KimballThis was also the first time for Baby Freya and Baby Guy to meet Norah just lost her first tooth the day before so she was smiling kinda funny to show off her new gap