Some catching up

  So my blogging performance has not been great,

and I will try to get back to blogging in (close to) real time,

but there are a couple milestones that I need to note first.

Number one: Ilea has grown at approximately 

the same rate as her brother when he was her age.

At 10 weeks, Ilea weighed in at just under 14 pounds,

rocketing her to the 95th percentile for weight

and at her appointment today (2 days after 4 months)

she weighed 16.4 pounds with an empty tummy.

She rolled over for the first time when she was

almost 9 weeks old

and despite the fact that she started life

refusing to look at me, she now is nothing but babbling and smiles.

 She has created her own type of smile,

opening her mouth as wide as it goes

and just barely letting the corners of her mouth tip up:

She also drools an extraordinary amount

and her hand is always in her mouth.

I occasionally go through outfits every hour unless she has a bib on,

(I suppose we are working on those baby teeth early?) 

Note: in the picture below, the dark area extending from 

the top of each shoulder to her belly button is not a shadow...

Ilea has her own, slightly more girlie, version of the "cougar"

(I will try to catch it on a video soon)

and is now bouncing and playing with toys.

Her first concert (if you don't count music on the beach)

was Bob Dylan and Wilco:

 Followed closely by Josh Radin:

  

In other updates,

the main man has fallen in love with his first song

Radioactive by Imagine Dragons

which used to be a good song... at least the first 1,700 times I heard it,

and has developed his first crush

(apparently a girl in the other kindergarten class

 who is "short...like me... and sooo beautiful")

Oh boy, here we go...

The Last Repeat

The other day, we had to say a sort of sad goodbye.

My mother moved out of the house

 she was living in during the time when I 

was pregnant with both kids.

Both times that I woke up with that very distinct

feeling that my labor had begun,

I hopped into this shower ("the Pink Shower")

to confirm it was the real deal before 

heading to the birth center.

 The first pictures of the kids were taken in this room:

 And after they had their first vaccinations,

I took pictures of their chunky, band-aided thighs

on this dining room table.

Here's Orin:

 

and Ilea:

So even though if we decide to have another baby,

we could add their paper heart name to the book at the

 Beverly Birth Center:

modern fashion trends have ensured that I will never again

confirm labor in a pink shower.

So goodbye house, 

thank you for the memories and

may you be the place for 

many other beautiful beginnings to come.

The Ocean in Summer

Summer's here!

(Well, actually at this point fall is here, but

we will just pretend I am blogging this when

I took these photos, which was back in July)

Even though we end up spending every summer

heading the opposite direction
 as the tourists who swarm to Cape Cod

we still manage to get in plenty of beach time.

Orin doesn't restrict his time in the water 

to the period that most know as summer.

Instead he swims in water that is so cold it

would induce hypothermia in a normal person.

But during July and August

when the water temperature rises

until it feels like a refreshing bath,

everybody goes swimming,
even Casey who swears he hates being wet.

And, of course, we couldn't deprive Ilea

of her first taste of the salty life.

So, I covered her up from the sun

and waded in until the waves splashed her toes.

Did she scream? Did she cry?

She did not.

Instead, lulled by the waves, she fell asleep.

That is a beach baby for you.

But sometimes you just don't quite feel like swimming.

Like, for instance, when you go out to Nauset Beach

and see signs like this:

 And then you look out over the water and see seals

playing right off the shore

and you are pretty sure that

constitutes "swimming with seals"

 

So instead, you play in the sand 

 

 or listen to one of the local bands as the sun sets:

 Or, Casey's favorite activity:

Fish

Which, if you wait long enough,

will often produce dinner for a week:

or two!

Ahhh... summer