Spring's in full bloom

Fun with hats

Phoebe looking very cute, though a bit like Gilligan

Phoebe looking at Lucy in her "creative" outfit, thinking, "THIS is supposed to be my role model??"

She's my delicious little baby

Providence get-away

We had a little overnight get-away in Providence this weekend. Well, not really a true get-away, because the kids came with us :) But it was a fun little trip for our family and a nice change of pace. Lucy loves hotels, as I think I have written about before, so it was a cause for great excitement. We went down on Friday evening to attend a party at our friend Bill's company. Lucy was very excited to wear her new "ballerina shoes" dress that I made for her. She had a lot of fun at the party and was really well-behaved. The highlight for her was the pinata. It was so cute to see her make a mad dash for the candy when it finally came out. She must have eaten 10 lollipops! We couldn't get a good picture of her in her new dress (of course)...here's the best we could do:

When we got back to the room, it was well past bedtime but the girls were both in a silly, giggly mood:


Phoebe finally settled down and went to sleep in the stroller bassinet next to the bed. Lucy, getting to stay in our king-sized bed with us, took a lot longer to settle. Of course, we didn't help matters by ordering ice cream from room service. It took almost an hour to arrive, by which point I think it was nearly 10pm, but nonetheless Lucy and I enjoyed our ice cream in bed. Why not? She did finally go to sleep and she did pretty well keeping her legs to herself. In the morning we had breakfast at the hotel and a swim in the pool, then took a walk around the Providence Place Mall before heading back to Boston. Lucy is still talking about her little adventure and wants to go back to a hotel "again soon." It's a nice little life she's got, huh? Here are my bathing beauties before our trip to the pool:

Girls in bloom

And speaking of blooming, Phoebe and I (Lucy was at daycare) spent a lovely day yesterday touring the hidden gardens in Beacon Hill. It's a once-a-year event sponsored by the Beacon Hill Garden Club. We got to see some amazing little gardens hidden behind the walls of some breathtaking homes. Oh, what we wouldn't give to live there! The highlight was getting to walk through an amazing single family house on Mt. Vernon street that I thought existed only in my wildest fantasies. Because it's held on a weekday, the event is populated mostly by ladies-who-lunch, all of whom went ga-ga over seeing little Phoebe strapped to me in the Bjorn. After looking at the gardens, we met my mom for lunch at the Parish Cafe (one of my favorite places). It was such a great day! I didn't take any photos of the gardens themselves because I didn't want to be intrusive (the owners were right there), but I did take a few of the other beautiful flowers we saw along the way. This is truly Boston at its finest...

{wisteria on a home in louisburg square}




{me and my baby after lunch with nonni at the parish cafe}

Three Months Old

Phoebe Grace is three months old...a quarter of a year already! And she is growing into quite the young lady. She now has a lot of awake time during the day...I am no longer worried about her sleeping too much. We are on the go a lot because of taking Lucy to daycare and picking her up, etc., but on days that we are home I can see that Phoebe does fall into a nice nap pattern. She goes down for the first one at around 9:30 or so and then, blissfully, she will go down for another nap when I put Lucy down for hers at around 2. Today I actually got two full hours with both girls napping! I sure hope this trend continues. At night, she now goes to sleep directly in her bassinet without having to be in the swing first. I nurse her a lot in the evening but I don't nurse her to sleep -- I put her in her bassinet awake at around 8pm and she goes to sleep. I sometimes need to rock her a little but really she goes down very easily. She has started to wake up to nurse earlier than she used to -- it's at around 4am these days. Still, I have no complaints. She goes right back to sleep until around 6, at which point she will nurse and cuddle in the bed with me until around 7.

Her coos continue and sometimes it sounds like she is carrying on an entire conversation. She smiles ALL the time and she has started to take a real interest in the goings on of big sister Lucy. She follows her around the room with her eyes, which is so cute to watch. Her neck strength is really good and if I lay her on her tummy she will lift her head up from the floor. She can sit pretty well if I support her waist, and she bears weight on her legs really well when I put her in a standing position. She's been trying to turn over, especially when she sees herself in the crib mirror and wants to play with the baby in the reflection :) Despite all these "advancements," however, I am in no rush for her to grow up! Of course it's exciting to see how well she is developing, but unlike with Lucy where I hoped she'd do everything "early," this time I am just hoping that Phoebe is a baby for as long as possible.

Happy three months, Phoebe Baby! We love you lots and lots!

Fenway fun

Lucy and Jeff went to a Sox game at Fenway today...just the two of them! They rode the train into town, watched a few innings from the seats, walked around the park, ate a pretzel and ice cream out of a little helmet, bought a baseball and a giant foam hand...what more could a little girl ask for?

At home before the game, all ready in their Sox hats

With Wally (the Green Monster)

Daddy and his girl

LOVE this picture!

Posing with her baseball and her giant foam hand

She's a farm girl after all

Today we went to the baby animals event at Drumlin Farm. You may recall that Drumlin Farm was the sight of "Chicken Incident 2007" -- otherwise known as the farm trip at which Lucy was terrified of the chickens (and every other animal on the farm). We have been back to this and other farms many times since then and she now loves them. Today she really redeemed herself in the chicken hut...smiling and laughing at the chickens. What progress we have made! We had a great time seeing the baby chickens, pigs, lambs, and even a baby goat. The weather wasn't great but it gave me a good excuse to wear my Wellie Boots and to pretend that I was roaming around a farm in the Cotswalds.

Making nice with the chickens

Pippi!

I almost forgot, we also had a sighting of a very rare baby...a Baby Phoebe. (Actually, not so rare...we met a 7-week-old at the farm also named Phoebe!)

Nonni's baby

Phoebe says "thank you for the blue eyes"...and may they last!

Sisterly love

Lucy has been wanting to hold Phoebe a lot more lately. I think that she really loves her and wants desperately to play with her. This morning, she wanted to play doll house with her. We remind her that Phoebe can't really play yet, but that before she knows it she will have a playmate for life...what lucky girls to have each other!

Cute and not-so-cute

First, the cute. Today I put Phoebe in a sweater I had made for Lucy when she was a baby. I am glad I thought to put it on her while she is still tiny. I remember knitting it in the 6 month size, Lucy's age at the time, but it was too small for a 6-month-old baby. I am hoping Phoebe gets a lot more wear out of it than Lucy was able to.


And now for the not-so-cute. Ok, it's cute (in its own way), but I am posting this to show that my child is not always super photogenic. I just tend to post the more flattering photos! But this one is pretty funny, so I had to share...