telling stories

massage therapy on mommy

hmm, mommy's always has food on it

sick computer

Yes, it's true, our computer is dying. We can't get it to accept the charge from the power cord. I have to hold the cord in as I work on the computer. And so my posts might become a little less frequent. Don't worry, I will do all the blogging I can. It just might not be every day like you're used to!!!

big girl

Sophie's doing some new things these days. Here they are:
-As of yesterday, she can take 3 steps or so in a row
-She says bye and waves
-She knows what sounds a cat, dog, and cow make
-She gives me anything out of her mouth that isn't food
-So far, the only thing that she doesn't like to eat is eggs

bella baby

Here are some of the latest Bella developments:
-She knows what sounds a cow, dog, and kitty cat make
-She says bye bye and waves
-She says eat
-She points to things
-She can walk across a room (about 8-10 continuous steps)

bastian boy

Sebastian has been up to a few new things:
-He got his two upper molars and is working on the bottom two (hence the sad face)
-He takes 5 or 6 consecutive steps
-He's saying tons of words (he tries to say everything you say)
cup
down
eat
medicine
book
ball (oops, both girls are saying this, too!)
da
ma
-He walks like a monkey (up on his hands and feet)

grandpa, oh grandpa

it's me sebatian! you can teach me to grill, grandpa!! i can be your sidekick. oh grandpa, pretty please! (sadly, we didn't get a pic of grandpa tapping back on the glass to sebastian. they had a kind of game going on. sebastian goes tap tap and grandpa goes tap tap and so on and so on!!)

growing pains

see those stairs back there? well in this shot, they're blocked. but that's only because i found this little hiker halfway up the stairs one night (and ava all the way up them on another night. she was standing in the dark saying "shtairsh, shtairsh" awww, you had to see her!! i'm feeling bad for her all over again!). unfortunately, however, momma wasn't paying enough attention because she, bella, snuck up the steps again later this weekend, only this time, her landing wasn't as safe as previous expeditions. the little tyke fell backwards down about 4 or 5 steps. she cried a bit (read: a LOT) and had a little red bump on her eye, but she came away none the worse for wear!!

this is how i look at it (now that i know my kid is ok and didn't get a concussion or any broken bones), mommy made it through the first of many growing pains none the worse for wear. and i didn't freak out or panic. this momma has many more growing pains to come, but i'm glad to have my first tucked under my belt and out of the way!!! may we be as fortunate the next time!!!!

nighttime prayers?

I think not. You might not even believe me if I told you what this kid was doing. Picture a fish tank to the left of that pack and play because that's exactly what's there. Now picture Sebastian falling asleep on his knees with his right hand thrown over the pack and play and his left clutching his blankie tightly. Oh wait, you don't have to imagine that at all. It's all right there in the picture for ya! Sebastian. Asleep. Apparently not counting sheep at all but counting . . . fish.

don't you just want to hug her?

funny face

cute profile shot

quad duty

because somewhere around there was an 18-month-old ava, too!

just plain cute

the fast and the furious

My first motorcycle ride was fun . . . and FAST!! First Dad took me tooling around the normal city streets at a very respectable 40 mph. But this little daredevil wanted to see what it was like to go faster. So we did a little highway action where we got up to about 80 mph. Let's just say that I can't wait to go again!!

this time last year

boy, oh boy

pretty purple nymph

theater-bound

drooley, smiley, wrinkley-nose face

p-c

You might read that as PC (saying each letter individually), but you'd be wrong. At least according to Sebastian. He asks for his cup by name, but it's not the name you and I call it. His is a p-c, said by sounding each letter out. Puhhkhh, plssssss. Cup please, of course!

smiley

why she squints in so many pictures

She's anticipating the flash. Ain't she brilliant?

how did i miss this?

I already posted a shot of Bella's hair from the front, but somehow I missed the incredible side shot!

do not disturb

this is practically like a library!

love this face!

tricked ya

is he sleeping?

nope!

no pictures please mom

all matching

When daddy came home for lunch, we were surprised to see that we were matching today! Sophie didn't exactly appreciate the coincidence, but it's still a cute picture!

rough night

This is how I found Sebastian this a.m. He had his knees all tucked under him, and when he woke up (I actually woke him by going to get him at 8 a.m.), his face had icky schmootz all over it from his stuffy nose. Poor kid!

*giggle*

yay, i'm a big boy!

ready to go, mom

it's not easy being green

poor tyke. she's battling some malady, and yesterday was the worst of it so far. she was pitiful. mommy and sophie spent a little qt in the rocker where we watched rachael ray make chicken soup because she (rachael ray, not sophie) was sick. go figure.

experimenting with cause and effect

Sophie has been testing out the cause and effect relationship lately. She'll take toys and throw them over the gate into the kitchen (seen in the background of the picture). Then she'll squat down to see where they went. How cute is that???!!

don't mind me, dad

i'm just going to stand here next to you. (by the way, I tried to get a good mommy/bastian shot, but the kid did NOT want to be photographed with his momma last night.)

a favorite toy

smiles all around

Aunt Amber and Uncle Matt

You said frivolous and they soooo totally are! But we LOVED them!! They're bigger so they can fit the through the spring (and maybe even summer, too). But don't you worry, we're going to try to get the winter in there, too!
On the left is a not-so-frivolous Sebastian purchase, but it was from you just the same. And he'll look great in it! He got a couple new pairs of jeans for his birthday, and this will be a great shirt for it. We'll keep you posted as we make our other frivolous purchases!!!

Thanks Aunt Amber and Uncle Matt!

aunt colie and uncle matt

We finally abandoned the hats and gloves idea. I've been to Target 3 seperate times looking for them, but we've had no luck. So we did the second best thing! We got some clothes. The coat is for Sebastian both for some pics we want to get with the girls in these denim coat/skirt set and for the spring when it gets warmer. It was a great price at Target. As for the sweaters, they have a silver thread going through them, and we absolutely love the girls in sweaters. They have a couple other for the winter, but we figured it wouldn't hurt to get one more. And we got a little bigger size to last the entire winter.

Thanks Aunt Colie and Uncle Matt!!!

these boots were made for walkin'

Now don't get too excited. They can stand up on their own and they can take steps (Bella took about 6 or so last night), and they even walk short distances on their own without prompting, but they're not quite walking yet.

nothing cuter than those cheeks peeking out from under a hood!!

daddy daycare

So I spent my first weekend away from the kids, and Tim spent his first weekend alone with the kids. Of course he did great! I had no worries. And I did just fine, too. Of course, I was keeping very good company and that always helps!!

While I was gone, the kids learned some new "tricks." Sebastian now says "please" when he wants something. So you just have to go through the list of possibilities with him after he crawls into your lap and starts pushing out that p sound followed by an s sound with a little "lllll" in there somewhere! It's sooooo cute!!

I think I mentioned before that I was trying to teach them sign language. We went on a sort of hiatus after family vacation in August, but we've been trying to get back in the groove of things again. I've been teaching the kids the sign for all done when they're in their highchairs and want down. Sophie just started using the sign this weekend. It's so cute to see her shake her hands when she wants to get out of her highchair. Sebastian, however, could not be bothered with signs. This kid would much rather say it than sign it. Sophie has a bit of the Italian that I passed down, I think, and would much rather use her hands. I guess Bella falls somewhere in the middle!

Anyway, Sebastian is now saying please, Sophie is signing down, Sophie also waves bye bye and says a cute little "bye" to go with it, bella waves hi when she sees you, sebastian can stand up in the middle of the room without anything near him to help get him up, and I'm sure there's more!! It's so cute to watch them learn new things. And it's even better to come home after being away to see all the new tricks they learned at Daddy Daycare!!

she can pick up HBO with that antenna

mom, i think this kid needs a bath. he's got yuck in his hair!

in the doghouse

bella, you look funny

why is everybody always picking on me?

a triplet with a long lost twin?

These are pictures of my good friend Barbara's son, Jacob. A couple months ago she posted a picture to her blog that looked just like Sebastian. When I commented on that to her, she said she had thought the same thing.

Here are a couple other pics of Sebastian's twin. It's been said that everyone has a twin out there somewhere, so most of us are semi-conscious of the fact that we could come face-to-face with someone that looks like us one day. I don't know about you, but I've never seen my twin. Or at least I don't think I have. Sebastian, on the other hand, will never have to wonder. We've found his twin! And I tell you what, if Sebastian grows up to be even half as cute as Jacob, he's doing alright!!

night night. sleep tight.

yayyyyyyyyyyyy

ewwwww

arrrrrr

oooh, new toys

Thanks John and Amanda for the great new toys! The kids love the balls and you know they like the puppy!!

a concerned citizen

take that!

digging for treasures

g.i. bastian

Thank you to all of the people who currently are or who have served our country and, therefore, me and my family. Though we take it for granted, we appreciate the sacrifices you have made for us. Happy Veteran's Day!

sophie hard at work

bella shenanigans!

boy

aww shucks

oh so sophie

tuckered out!

Sophie dropped where she was and started sucking her two fingers. Poor tyke!

Sophie went to the doctor for her one-year exam last week and she's almost 18 lbs and she's 29 inches long. We have called Sophie Tiny for a long time, and she's definitely aptly nicknamed!

She's also taking a step or so by herself; she LOVES to practice walking. She waves bye-bye (and says "bye" to go with it), she can tell you what a doggy does (daddy taught them that trick this week), she says ball (and will go get it if you ask her where the ball is), and she loves to be the one who hides for hide-n-seek!

She'll give you a kiss, but you have to ask extra special nice, and even then she's selective with no apparent criteria for the proffering!

Our little Tiny LOVES to climb over things and on to things. Does that sound familiar, Mom and Dad (my mom and dad, not Tim's)?

Whenever there's any kind of peppy music playing (the Mickey Mouse song, the Winnie the Pooh song, or any other music), Sophie will stop what she's doing to boogie a little. Sophie usually bops her head all around to dance, but if she's standing up, she'll add a little hiney action, too!

I know there's more, but I just can't think of it right now!

getting long enough for bows!

I think Mommy will have to start making bows for Bella's hair. Modest ones, mind you. But her front hair (we'll call them bangs for now), her bangs are getting in her eyes, so we're starting to pin it back.

Bella went to the doctor last week as well and she's a little over 18 lbs and she's over 29 inches. She did NOT like the paper-covered examining table, not that that's a surprise to anyone. Well, except for Nana maybe who witnessed first-hand this little girl ripping the pages out of a magazine one night. Rrrrrriiiiiiiiipppppppppppppppp, next, Rrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiipppppppppp, next, and so on!

Bella is taking a lot of steps by herself and of her own accord. We have your walking-between-mommy-and-daddy time, but she also will leave her perch to head to some destination of choice without prompting, getting there via her own two walking legs! It's so cute to watch. And she loves to put two hands on an object that she's holding while standing, leaving her to balance on her own two feet. (See, I forgot that for Sophie. Sophie giggles when she realizes she's standing by herself. She gets so excited, and when she's ready to sit, she kind of does it slow motion, fanny first to the ground.)

Bella can tell you what a doggie does, wave bye (though not always without prompting), and is repeating lots of things she hears. She just started saying night-night and knows what it means!

Bella loves to be chased and to hide during a game of chase.

If she hears the word no, even if it's not directed at her, she tends to crawl at high speed away from her perch to another, potentially more favorable location. She'll also drop the perfectly acceptable thing she's playing with as though it were a live, detestable animal.

Bella really boogies to music, whether she's lying down, sitting or standing. And each form is different, depending on the beat of the music. If she's standing, it's usually the deep knee bends with a little wiggle from her tiny hiney. If she's sitting, she'll often kind of pick up her upper body from her knees and bop her head. And if she's lying down, she'll lift her bootie up and down and add the shaking of her head.

More to come on this little one!

we've been working on the on-command sad face!

This is the, well I'll just tell you, the faker sad face! It's the I-want-to-cry-now face!! And it's just plain hilarious. But don't tell him because he'll have to work out a whole new system when he wants his way, and I'm kind of used to this one ;-)

So, Sebastian is about 18 1/2 lbs and 29 3/4 inches. Born the smallest but he's worked his way to the top!! Sebastian can say ball and down, cheese (though he doesn't really know what cheese is), and tries to say pretty much everything else he hears. As I've been trying to pick back up with the sign language, Sebastian seems more content to try to imitate the word I'm signing to him. I'm not too sure that he'll be picking up any signs as he'd rather use words to verbalize his desires.

Sebastian, even as I type, is definitely the older brother in the stereotypical ways. There is no object he cannot have, whether in the possession of one of his sisters or otherwise. And he resorts to putting the girls in their respective places if he can't seem to get a good hold of something he wants right away. (Sophie just went down for the count as she tried to take a toy from Sebastian. She tugged and tugged, but his brawn won out!!!) Though this will mean a bit of correcting for mom even now, I'm glad that he's doing normal boy things. Being surrounded by girls all day (interruption for another tug-of-war between Sophie and Sebastian; he won, of course!) has not turned my little boy to mush!!

Sebastian hasn't gotten the waving thing down, but he does imitate the words hi and bye. And he can tell you what a doggie does.

Stay tuned for more interesting developments from the Chronicles of the Sherflets Growing Pains!!!

birthday toy fun

One of the learning/music toys from Papi and Gigi.

The Sherflets very own laptop from Papi and Gigi since they love mommy and daddy's! Here Bella is trying to get it open!

Sebastian is checking out his new tryke from Nana and Grandpa. I was so close to having a picture of Sophie on it yesterday. She climbed on there all by herself and was dinging the little bell!!

Our first dolls, twins, from Nana and Grandpa. Bella likes her eyes, of course, and her hair! Sophie giggles at her!!

Sebastian is checking out the quality of his new truck, his first truck, from Grammy, PopPop, Aunt Freaky and Uncle Mikey. Bella LOVES to play with this truck, too!!

Two for one with this little girl. She loves the Elmo chair from Uncle Joe and Aunt Krissi and definitely loves the ball (and pins!) from the bowling set from Grammy and Aunt Freaky.

Lest you think that babies don't like clothes, Sophie is here to prove you wrong! She LOVES playing with her clothes from Aunt Nic and Uncle Mike, Grammy and Aunt Freaky, Papi and Gigi, Uncle Paul and Aunt Melody, Dee, Carole, and Karen (mommy loves her toys, too, ladies, but I haven't gotten a pic of that yet. I did, however, ask the pediatrician's office for their immunization cards so I could have some more important stuff to file! thank you to you all!!! a more personal note coming shortly in the mail!!!), Aunt Leenie, Uncle Bob, Tara, and Yvette, (thank you, guys! a more personal note following for you as well!!) and Cindy.

One of those great toys (this one is from Grammy and Aunt Freaky) that you open the doors to to reveal some character and noise to go with it. I love to get a bunch of these going in toy stores, so I actually set all the noise-making toys together in my house one day and got them all making noise!!!

My little people playing in their Little People Village from Uncle Paul and Aunt Melody and kids.

Isn't it so cute, Papi and Gigi, that she's reading her story book Bible from you in this little tunnel?

Driving one of 3 cars from Cindy. This one in particular makes bubbles, and Bella is looking for the magic button!

A couple interactive toys that came with the bunny behind sophie and with the doggy from Papi and Gigi.

**This isn't all-inclusive!!! There are more pics I have yet to get. Believe it or not, these were all snapped the Monday after their birthday. They went from toy to toy to toy!!! I still have yet to get pics of them in their new coats and shoes (they're coming, Papi and Gigi) and shots of them in all their new clothes! I'll get them sooner or later!! And stay tuned Uncle Matt and Aunt Colie, Uncle Tony and Aunt Nicola, and Uncle Matt and Aunt Amber for what the Sherflets picked from you!!!

THANKS EVERYONE for being so generous to us and our Sherflets!!!

observant babies

For those of you who were just here, we just got some curtains up in the living room. The first thing the babies did this a.m. when they got in the living room was look from one window to the other. I put the sherflets down in the hallway, and they kind of crawled into the living room one at a time. Each one of them almost instinctively knew something was different. It was so cute to watch them make the discovery!

(Now, in case you're wondering, that couch is usually on an angle and the big space to the right of the art on the wall there is for a ficus to go behind the angled couch!!)

through sebastian's eyes

can everyone please be quiet!!!??

I'm doing business with Tokyo and New York here.

lean on mommy when you're not strong

mommy, aren't you so proud of us?

We got our own snack (fig newtons) and even left some in the carpet for later! Smart, huh?

ahh, my adoring fans want another picture of me!

just when you thought we were done . . .

The gift portion of the day was interesting. Not, of course, because of the gifts but because of what they were wrapped in. 2 out of 3 of my munchkins got freaked out at the sound of wrapping paper ripping (say that ten times fast!)!! So a lot of these pictures will be of Sophie totally enjoying herself and everything that the three of them got for their birthday!

WOW! This is as big as me!!!

Mommy, you're supposed to read the card first.

I like that card, Mom.

The cousins look on ready to give an experienced and helping hand!!

it's a zoo!

This party's theme was "It's a Zoo" because, well, sometimes it is! We had our zoo animals, a monkey, a bear, and the zoo bunny. Ok, so bunnies aren't frequently found at the zoo, but we've managed to have one in our own little zoo.

Grammy, PopPop, Aunt Freaky, and Uncle Mikey bought 3 stuffed animals for the kids, a bunny, bear, and monkey, of course. So we used those to tie down 3 bunches of balloons.

We had salad and pizza (thanks Nana and Grandpa), yummy Costco cake (thanks Aunt Melody for picking that up and storing it for us), fun grab bags (thanks Grammy), family near (thanks all for taking time out of your Saturday to celebrate with us) and far (thanks Grammy and PopPop, Papi and Gigi, and Uncle Joe and Aunt Krissi for coming all that way for us), and lots of entertainment (thanks everyone)!!

the other side of the table

balloons attached to their chairs

the 2 uncle mikes, uncle kenny, and a couple cousins

gigi, aunt nic, and taylor

grammy and tanner

nana and grandpa

papi, unidentified chick, aunt krissi and uncle joe with bella

aunt melody and great grandma

aunt freaky (the one responsible for all these pictures) and sophie