Wintertime

It's been a little while since our last blog post. Winter with little kids isn't particularly conducive to going on outings and taking pictures, so we've mostly been hanging out around the house. Of course, that means that all our pictures this post were taken inside the house. Oh well, the girls are cute enough to carry the post, and our readership demands a steady stream of pictures and updates.

Here's Lydia petting Snoopy (incidentally, I just had to get Tanja to bribe Snoopy over to sit next to her so I could write this post without him pawing me asking for belly rubs). You can tell that Snoopy is enjoying it.

Karina being silly.

The last post, we said that Lydia wasn't too far away from crawling. She is now mobile and picking up speed every day.  She started crawling one day, at six months old, for a few steps.  Later that day, while Skyping with the grandparents she would follow the laptop around as we moved it out of her reach.  Now chasing the laptop around is a regular occurrence when talking with Mormor and Morfar or Grandma and Grandpa.  We are wearing ourselves out chasing after our little speed demon.

Fortunately, we got our gates installed over all the downward-facing stairs, but she is eager to explore everything she can reach with her new-found mobility.

Karina and one of her dolls.

Here are our girls playing together on the stairs. Lydia can pull herself up into a standing position, and I wouldn't be surprised if she is taking her first steps in a month. She is just so interested in everything that her big sister is doing and wants to be able to keep up. Of course, this also means that we had to lower Lydia's crib so she couldn't stand up and try to escape/fall out. A lower crib makes it that much more awkward to help her get back to sleep when she wakes up at night (we pin her arms and legs down and shush her with our arms draped over the crib rail).

Karina is really a sweet big sister and is very helpful with all things Lydia. Sharing toys is still a struggle, at least with Karina's favorite ones, but she is quick to bring out Lydia approved toys and loves trying to make her baby sister giggle.  One of the favorite games is "Chase" where Karina will run around the house and Lydia will crawl or be carried after her with both of them giggling hysterically.

Our two cuties wearing their silly winter hats before a walk.

Karina playing her piano book.

I really like her dress that she is wearing here.

I'm a big football fan, and I've got Karina interested enough to help me cheer when my team does well. She knows enough to raise her arms and shout "TOUCHDOWN!"

Lydia concentrates really hard when there is something she wants, and it is evident in her facial expressions. I think in this picture she has decided that she is going to attack me and put the camera in her mouth, for no better reason than it is interesting.

Here she is standing up using me to support herself. She's pretty strong, and very proud of herself.

Karina decided to play in Tanja's new longer curtains and wrapped herself and her doll up in them. My guess is that will not be the last time she does this.