Baby's First Dartmouth Football

And they lost (of course).

Helena seemed to like the game, at least until she fell asleep.


Sadie preferred her huge rice krispie treat and her balloon D to any of the football action.


But we still had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa!

Riverview Farm

On Sunday morning, Nana came to visit and we went to Riverview Farm to pick apples. We didn't end up picking any apples because Sadie didn't like the mushy apples underfoot and most of the apples were above her reach, but we had a lot of fun with other activities.

Sadie had cider and a donut.


Helena relaxed in the grass.


We all walked through the corn maze and Daddy and Nellie posed in this pumpkin head cut-out. Sadie would not put her head through.


We posed Sadie by the wheelbarrow like we do every year, but she just made goofy faces and wouldn't smile.


Sadie, Nana and Daddy took a horse and wagon ride and we bought cider and apples to bring home. It was a great fall activity!

Do they look alike?

Do they look alike?
Originally uploaded by Dan and Ann

Do Sadie and Helena look alike? We think they do. Their faces are the same shape. Their eyes, eyebrows and mouths are very similar. Their noses are a little different, but Sadie's nose has changed since she was a baby. The big difference in appearance seems to be their coloring. Helena is not as bald as baby Sadie was and her hair is darker. Nell's skin tone is different and we think her eyes may turn out to be blue. They are actually getting more blue and lighter as time goes by.

Souvenir

Photo Strip
Originally uploaded by Dan and Ann

When we were at the Willows a few weeks ago, I saw a photo booth and immediately brought both girls in for photos. I love these old photo booths. This was a really good one, with black and white real film photographs. Most of the time now, photo booths use digital cameras.

Sadie and I had a lot of fun in the booth. As you can see from her expression, Helena was a little concerned about the whole thing.

Dance Class

Dancing with Scarves
Originally uploaded by Dan and Ann

This past Saturday, Sadie started dance class at Creative Movement School of Dance. Her class is for 3 and 4 year olds and includes tap, ballet and jazz dance! Sadie had a great time in the class. She was really excited, participated the whole time and loved wearing the dance clothes and shoes.

During the ballet section of the class, they divided the kids into two groups. One group had blue scarves and tried to copy Miss Ellie and the others had red scarves and copied Miss Tammi. Here's Sadie with her blue scarf, following Miss Ellie's movements.

Lots of Stripes

Matching Sisters
Originally uploaded by Dan and Ann

Sadie loves to wear matching clothes with Nell, so she was thrilled by these pajamas, which we got as a gift from Matt and Christine. It's definitely becoming fall here, with colder nights especially, so the footie pajamas are most welcome!

Helena is becoming more and more responsive to Sadie. This morning, she sat in her bumbo for a long time while Sadie read her a story. Sadie was delighted that Baby Nellie was listening to her!

2 months, 1 day

Happy 2 month birthday, Helena! We love you!

Here's Nellie enjoying her two month birthday present...we got her a Bumbo seat! She loves sitting in it and being part of the action.



I know she'll be embarrassed later, but I had to take these pictures in just a diaper because her baby pudge is the cutest!

Visiting the Great-Grandparents

Great-grandparents with the girls
Originally uploaded by Dan and Ann

On Saturday, Sadie and Helena went to visit their great-grandparents.

Grammy and Grampy are Bob-Bob's parents and Sadie was very interested that they live in the house where Bob-Bob lived when he was a little boy named Bobby and that Grammy and Grampy are his mommy and daddy. Sadie has visited Grammy and Grampy many times before, but I think this was the first time she connected the family relationship.

This was the first time that Grammy and Grampy met Helena and it was a very happy meeting for everyone. The girls were incredibly good, despite the hot and humid weather and the early start to the day.

Blueberry Picking

sweaty with berries
Originally uploaded by Dan and Ann

We went blueberry picking today at Riverview Farm with Katie and Tavyn and their moms and the little sisters. It was HOT out there...much more like July than September.

More pictures.


We had a really good time.

Happy Birthday, friends!

Happy Birthday Isaac! We hope you like being three!
Happy Birthday Sam! We hope you like being two!

Small Friends

Helena's baby friends
Originally uploaded by Dan and Ann

This is too cute not to share...Helena and all her little friends from the 4th Trimester Mommy/Baby group. Of course, she is the only one not looking at the camera...I was silly enough to stand to the side while another mom took the picture so she is looking at me!

Happy Baby

Sister brings out the biggest smiles
Originally uploaded by Dan and Ann

Nellie has been so smily and fun lately. She likes to be tickled and sung to. She is starting to look at toys and her crib mobile.

She loves Sadie and follows her around the room with her eyes. Sadie got this great smile from her yesterday...you can see Sadie's hand tickling Helena's cheek. It makes Sadie so happy when the baby responds to her.

Vegetable Friend

mr. eggplant
Originally uploaded by Dan and Ann

Sadie made this little guy at school today as part of a unit on vegetables.
"Mama, see the eyes? We made them with black eyed peas. See the black eyes? I made the nose with a black eyed pea! He's a vegetable man."

Good times with a good friend

We got to spend some time over the weekend with one of Sadie's oldest friends, Katie. The girls met (ok, their moms met) at the 4th Trimester Mommy and Baby group when they were tiny: Sadie was two weeks old and Katie was three weeks old. They have been friends ever since. Now, both girls have little sisters!

The girls are really similar in temperament and play well together. It's really interesting to see how developmentally, they see things the same way. When they're together, you can see how a lot of their behavior is just part of being 3.5 years old!

One thing that the moms noticed was that both Sadie and Katie treat their little sisters exactly the same...very affectionate and eager to be involved, yet testing the limits of how they can physically interact with baby. Katie's sister Grace is several months older than Helena and is starting to investigate Katie's things. It's a good preview for us!

Sadie loved being able to explore Billings Farm with someone her own size. There were a few times we noticed the girls talking to each other out of our earshot...they are growing up!

Help from Sadie

bottle time
Originally uploaded by Dan and Ann

Daddy and Sadie gave Helena a bottle this afternoon. Helena has been taking a bottle every now and then for a few weeks. She likes it but she is a sloppy eater, which is why she is wearing a very large bib over her clothes! Sadie had a good time feeding her.

Long legs

backyard
Originally uploaded by Dan and Ann

Sadie looks so grown up and tall in this picture. I took this in our backyard Sunday. This coming weekend, Sadie's teacher is coming to photograph both girls, so I was scouting possible outdoor locations. This background is pretty, but it will all depend on where the light is good when Jennie arrives.

6 weeks old

little smile
Originally uploaded by Dan and Ann

Helena was 6 weeks old yesterday and is starting to give us sweet smiles. They are hard to catch on camera, but I managed to get this one of sort of half smile yesterday.

Happy 6 weeks to our little lovebug!

We're back!

I love you, little sister
Originally uploaded by Dan and Ann

We're back from Maine...we had a great time and pretty good weather. Both girls were terrific travelers and sleepers while we were away, which was wonderful. Sadie swam in the lake a lot and rode in canoes, kayaks and a motorboat. Helena got chubbier and had lots of cute alert moments and the occasional smile. We all liked spending time with Grandma, Grandpa, Jenny and Andy. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for the fun week away from home!

"Vacation, all I ever wanted...

Vacation, had to get away..."

We're off to Maine today. Lots of pics and posts upon our return.

Four Cousins

Four Cousins
Originally uploaded by Dan and Ann

We're leaving for Maine on Friday and today we enjoyed a really fun visit from Nana, Auntie Karen and the cousins. Sadie always has a great time with Sophie and Anabel, and both cousins were excited to meet Helena.

We had lunch at Panera, ordered the flower girl dresses for Auntie Lauren's wedding and went to the Montshire Museum to play. Then, we came home for pizza for dinner. Sadie should sleep well tonight!