And She's Off!

Mabel is walking! About four weeks ago she started taking more and more steps and for the last three weeks, walking has become her primary mode of movement. We are so happy and thrilled for her. She loves it too! All she wants to do is walk. It is great, except, along with her independent movement came independent, strong willed Mabel. ALL SHE WANTS TO DO IS WALK, no carrying, no hand holding, just walking. If you pick her up, you will hear a “No, I wanna walk!!!”. For the most part it means we just slow down, but in cases like parking lots, it means we win and we pick her up (and there will be a meltdown - so maybe we don’t win).  Either way it is great to have the months of physical therapy, dr's appts and practicing pay off!

Getting Caught Up

So much has been going on in the last few weeks that I could write a ten page post. I will try to keep this one short and sweet, just to get caught up!

The weekend before Easter, Brad sent me on a trip to NYC with a college girlfriend to visit another friend who lives in the city (a positive of having a husband that travels so much is all the free trips we get with the miles!). We had a great time. It has been a few years since I was in the city, so it was great to get back. We saw the musical Wicked, which was amazing and had a great time shopping, eating fabulous food, great drinks and of course even better conversation and company. It was an exhausting few days but good to get away and not have to worry about being a mom and a wife! Brad did a great job with the children, even though he was stuck at home with a sick Louis. As great as the trip was, it was wonderful coming home and getting all the hugs I missed so much!

Oh, and while I was in NYC, my brother Brian and his wife welcomed their third child, baby Ben! Welcome to the world Ben!

Easter weekend was great. On Saturday my family came over. The children had a great time with the Easter egg hunt and hanging out with each other. The adults also had a great time. Brad impressed us all again with his cooking. It is so nice to have a husband who is the cook in the family. It really allows me to just enjoy hanging out. On Easter we visited my aunt who lives nearby. Another day with family and Easter egg hungs, does it get any better? Below is a picture of Louis and his cousin Owen both dressed as Spiderman.

For the most part Louis and Mabel get along great, but they don't exactly play together - that usually ends up in fights.  So they more or less play side by side and co-exist.  The other night I was trying to do a work out dvd and they were not being cooperative.  So I quickly grabbed my iPhone (not sure why I didn't just grab the computer) and let them watch a Mickey video via YouTube. They fought a little over how to turn the phone but mostly they both just stayed still and watched it - together.

Bring on the Spring!

So even though daylight savings has begun and we all lost an hour and my kids were out of whack and I was out of whack…I loved it. It means that spring is here! How great is it that sunset doesn’t occur until 7:30pm! My tulips are starting to come up and we are able to play outside after work/school. It is all so refreshing, and bright and nice and well I just love spring!
Mabel received her “braces” about four weeks ago. They are actually orthotics and the goal is to give her a little more stability, which should also help her confidence in walking. They bothered her a little on the first day but now is used to them. We have seen some great progress, so hopefully this will be the thing to get her going! Go Mabel!  Here you can see a quick picture of what they look like alone and in shoes.

Mabel is super silly and is quite the actress! The other day we were singing and I asked her, “Mabel, who is the baby” and she replied, “Lou Lou’s the baby!”  Louis immediately replied, “No, I’m the big boy”, to which Mabel laughed, like she knew she was teasing him! She is like a grown person in this tiny body!   A couple of weeks ago she got her first haircut. I haven’t decided yet how long it may or may not be, but it was time to clean it up. The lady at Kids’ Hair decided to put in a ponytail and paint her hair pink. Mabel did great. She doesn’t let me put clips in anymore, so I was amazed she sat so well…I wonder if the sucker had anything to do with it?