THE BEST NEW TOY

TWO LITTLE MONSTERS

It's blurry, I know. I'm trying to get a good one. To all grandparents: I promise you a (good) photo of your two grand babies by the end of next week. In the meantime, Gus's smile is just priceless. He absolutely adores his little sister (and her eyes are blue, blue, blue).

SLIDE!

Along with the sandbox and the laboratory, our wonderful neighbors also gave us a slide.


Gus loves the slide.


It's about 4 and a half feet tall, and I was a little worried at first, thinking he might fall off the top. He's mostly good about sitting down when he gets to the top.


Whee!

(sorry there's no action shot, he goes down way too fast for that!)

FIRST TIME

We finally let Gus hold Nova. I think he did a pretty good job.

WHO ARE YOU LOOKIN AT?

SPINNING HIS 45s

FIDDLE DEE DEE

ONE MONTH

She's number one!

SUNFLOWERS

INSTRUCTIONS FROM GUS

Mama, come out!


Mama, sit!


Up! Up!



Look! Irene!

DO THEY LOOK ALIKE?

People often ask us if Gus had dark hair and olive skin like Nova. No one remembers that our fair, blond haired, blue eyed toddler was once so dark. You'd better believe it:


This is from when Gus was just 3 weeks old. It's strange how different yet how much the same their faces are. Their coloring is pretty similar, so maybe the Bee will be just as fair as Gus is. Of course, Gus may turn out to be a brunette yet, we'll just have to wait and see.

OUT

I've said it many times, Nova is a wonderful baby. She sleeps well, she rarely fusses unless she really needs something, and her toes are delicious. But life with a even the best behaved newborn is still absolutely exhausting.

OH, NOVA

You are just an absolute angel, and we adore you.

THE BEE

Gus is still working on his pronunciation of the word "baby", so mostly he calls Nova "the bee!" It's caught on with the rest of us, so now we have our little bear and our little bee. Buzzzzzz.

THE LABORATORY

Our friends who gave us the sandbox also gave Gus this neat little water table.


Poppa calls it his laboratory.

Gus spends a lot of his time doing experiments (and getting his clothes soaked!)

SANDBOX

Thanks to our wonderful neighbors, Gus got a sandbox this week.


He loves it.


Nova doesn't think it's half bad.

NAPPING

Napping is sort of a loose term around here. If Dave and I aren't both home at nap time, then we have to get Nova to sleep before we can rock Gus down. Then, if you're lucky, they'll both stay asleep for at least 10 minutes. Yesterday, I was laying on the couch and Gus woke up mid-nap. I laid the little girl down for a minute while I rocked him again.


She looked pretty comfy on the couch by herself.

Also, here's a photo of Nova with her cousin Jonah from last week. Hi Jonah!

RASPBERRIES

Last year, we were out of town when the raspberries were ripe. This year, Gus isn't going to miss out.


Breakfast, lunch, and dinner: Gus has had a lot of raspberries this week.

GUARANTEED

GOOD MORNING, SUNSHINE

IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING

This little monster is doing quite well. We don't have a lot of photos of the two together yet. Gus is learning to be gentle when he's around his sister, but it's hard to grab the camera when we're trying to keep him from hugging too much. He's showing off for our visitors and generally having a great time being a big brother.

HI