Upside down in Mirror

Larkin and her Daddy discovered a fun, new game today! Snuggled up in her Palmer's Hiphugger sling, Larkin thinks it is good fun to look upside down in the mirror at herself and Brian. She leans back and looks into the mirror, and then she sits back up to check that everything is normal. It's hilarious. Watch the video to see the fun and hear all of the giggles!

Snow Day

My friends at work have taken to calling me Punxsutawney Karen because I predicted this late March snow and ice storm a few weeks ago when it was 70 degrees outside! We had a fun "snow day" staying inside and just lounging. Larkin enjoyed looking out the window at the snow and playing on pillows as you can see from the pics. We enjoyed today, but now we're ready for spring!

Aunt Jenny and Cousin Sierra Visit

Aunt Jenny and Sierra came for another visit! The girls really started interacting with each other and were both so active. Check out all of the pictures below to catch a glimpse of the fun that we all had together! (And, don't forget, you can click on a picture to see it enlarged... it's especially useful to do on the double pics so you can really see their cute expressions).

The girls got to sit next to each other when we went to California Pizza Kitchen. They giggled at each other and reached towards one another. Larkin scarfed down all of the food we gave her... she had pizza crust and broccolini. Sierra wasn't as into the whole eating thing... Jenny was successful at sneaking some avocado into Sierra's mouth, much to Sierra's dismay!

Here are some pics of the girls playing at Grandma and Grandpa Hittle's house. Larkin's really into crawling and pulling herself into a standing position, while Sierra's is totally into trying to walk and even run. She still needs assistance, but she is fast! Larkin looks a little upset in the group photo because Brian had just walked in from a business trip and she was crying because she desparately wanted him to hold her! It made Brian feel pretty special.

Here I am practicing for Annie's wedding. I don't know if I'll be able to pull it off or not since together the girls weigh nearly half my weight, but Annie had the idea that I could carry the two girls at her wedding in May. I'm doing pretty well here, eh? Brian thinks Larkin looks like Shiloh in the second pic (they do, in fact, share the same birthday). Too bad I'll never be confused with Angelina.

On a beautiful early spring day when the temperature was in the 70s, we all headed to the playground at our neighborhood school and had a blast. Larkin rode her first swing ride on her Daddy's lap, and then later was able to ride for the first time by herself in a bucket swing. She seemed to really enjoy it. Larkin also tried to eat her first rocks. Yes, rocks! While we were sitting on the playground's pebble ground, Sierra played with the pebbles and Larkin tried to eat it! As Brian put it, "The pebbles look like a buffet of bread to Larkin". I guess Larkin takes after her mommy and loves bread! It was so windy up on the hill where the school is as you can tell in the pictures. Check out Sierra's hair blowing all around!

Finally, here are a few other pictures of the girls playing. During our dinner, we put Larkin in her playpen and Sierra in a walker. Sierra came to visit Larkin and it seemed as though she wanted IN the playpen while Larkin wanted OUT!

It was a great visit and we can't wait to get the girls together again in 6 weeks at Annie's wedding!

Larkin Crawling!

She's finally crawling forwards and she's even starting to pick up speed! After several weeks of Larkin crawling backwards, she has now learned how to turn her gears from reverse into drive. Since she started crawling forwards a few weeks ago, she has learned how much fun it is to really be mobile, and she is starting to check out the world all around her. Larkin seems to be especially attracted to things we don't want her to be near - think computer cables, dog bones, yep, you know what I mean - and we've been doing quite a bit of redirecting. But we're loving it all... this is such a fun time. We love watching her explore and try new things. And, yes, the baby gates (we got retract-a-gates) are going in this weekend....



Larkin is working hard to develop her large motor skills and now that she's mastered crawling, walking is her next goal! She's good at standing while holding on to something, but the idea of taking steps while being a biped is a fairly new concept for her. She has just started cruising this past week, and here's a video of some of her early steps to practice walking a few days ago. Her Grandma Hittle is holding her hands and her Grandpa Hittle is cheering her on. Go Larkin!

Grandpa Bud visits

Grandpa Bud came to see us and we were so excited to see him! Larkin has grown a lot since he last saw her... she's feeding herself finger foods, she's crawling (albeit backwards!) and she's so much more interactive. We all had such fun... aside from the head cold we all shared!

Here are a couple of pictures of us out to lunch. Larkin does really well out at restaurants.



Here's Grandpa Bud doing what grandparents love doing best...giving his grandbaby a bath!

Here are Grandpa Bud and Larkin standing tall and snuggling up. Thanks for the cute outfit, Anne!

These pics give you a real taste of what Larkin and Grandpa Bud spent a lot of time doing during play time on the floor. He'd build up towers and she'd knock them down. He'd put the rings on the post and she'd pull them off. Destruction is her favorite game right now!

Where's Larkin?! She was playing with this toy one minute and then under it backwards the next... she needed a little rescuing this time!

Ah, the beloved interactions between a girl and her granddaddy. Buddies forever!