Eloise is Six Months Old!

Today, Eloise is six months old. We had the monthly photo shoot, of course and just as I did for Claire when she turned six months, I made a "half" birthday cake for Eloise. She didn't get to eat any, of course, but she sure wanted to! She did manage to get her hand in some of it when mommy was trying to take pictures. Sneaky girl!

Eloise is also getting more mobile. She has been scooting herself around quite a bit, and today for the first time, she started getting on all fours and holding herself up for a few seconds. I managed to snap a pic (along with some drool) of her working on getting up. It's only a matter of time before she starts crawling now!

Valentine Photo Shoot

We are so lucky to have an amazing American photographer in our community who takes great pictures at very reasonable prices. She does traditional shoots as well as "holiday themed"quick sessions, that are hard for me to resist. Today I took Claire and Eloise to have some Valentine's Day pictures taken. Obviously, I had to dress them in matching t-shirts that I made for them. Aren't they just too cute for words?

Poor Sick Claire Bear....

Two various illnesses are running rampant among all the little kids we know and unfortunately, Claire was not spared. She had a nasty cough and an up and down fever for six days. We finally had to take her in so she could get a little help with an IV last Monday, but she is back to her old self, now. However, even in her sickness, I couldn't resist taking a couple of crazy sleeping picture.

Thankfully, Eloise did not catch the fever, but she is struggling with some congestion.

Oh, and here's a cute picture of Eloise, all dolled up and ready to go out to the market with me to act as my goodwill ambassador and hopefully score some preferential treatment.... worked like a charm.

Ravello and Amalfi on a Holiday Monday

We took advantage of the recent holiday Monday (Martin Luther King Day) and loaded the girls into the car to explore some new (for us) towns on the Amalfi coast. After a long and winding drive, we found ourselves in Ravello, a darling town high up on the coast with amazing views.

The view from Ravello.
Ravello has some darling streets and very cool doorways.


After wandering around the very sleepy and empty streets (what can you expect on a Monday in January during riposo?), we got into the car and drove another 15 minutes to get to Amalfi, the lovely waterfront town the coast is named for.

Claire and Daddy exploring Amalfi's waterfront.

The steps leading to a church in Amalfi.

Claire sitting in front of a tiled mural in Amalfi.

Amalfi was a bit busier and we enjoyed exploring the quaint streets. After a quick pizza dinner, we were on our way home to tuck the girls into bed.

Play Time!

As Eloise approaches six months old (can you believe it?) she is becoming more and more mobile. She is not crawling yet, but she is rolling and wiggling and scooting her way all over the floor. Last night, I laid her on her play mat, and few minutes later, I found her over by the coffee table, pulling out her green and white toy basket. I know in this picture, it looks like it's falling on her, but she's doing her best to try to pull it out.

And, a few minutes later, she was successful! She wiggled the basket off of the shelf and dumped the toys out. WOO HOO!

Yummy!

Eloise is certainly becoming a bigger fan of solid foods. She was never really jazzed about the rice cereal on it's own, but she'll definitely eat it when it's mixed in with her fruits and veggies. Like I did with Claire, I am again making most of our baby food. So far, Eloise has had and enjoyed sweet potatoes, bananas, avocado, peas, carrots, pears, prunes (of course), and it looks like mango is in her near future.

Claire has continued to be a very attentive big sister. While a part of her wants to sit in the high chair herself and taste the baby food, she is much more interested in helping out. The other night, Claire did a pretty good job feeding Eloise. She seemed very proud of herself for being such a good helper.

Click here to see a video of Claire feeding Eloise.

Early in the video, Claire comments that Eloise's food is "a little bit yucky." Also, the buzzing alarm is our rice cooker letting us know that it was done cooking. I didn't figure out how to edit that out, sorry!

Claire's First Day of School

Today is Claire's first day of pre-school! I know most kids don't start mid-year, but we didn't really feel like she/we were ready for her to go to school in September, but now that a few months have passed, we decided it was time. We enrolled her in an "American" preschool that is in a nearby town.

She'll go on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-2:30. She already has a ton of little friends in her class, including her good friend Sadie. Drop off was a bit crazy and rushed, as I'm sure it always is. Claire seemed to like it and Mommy and Daddy were able to keep it together!

1,000 Days

Being a numbers guy, a few weeks ago, Andy figured out that Claire's 1,000th day was on New Year's Day. We decided we wanted to do something fun to commemorate it. So, I made a 1,000 cake, covered with 1,000 m&ms.

Yes, there are 1,000 m&ms in these pictures.

Yes, I counted them.

Yes, the cake is shaped like a 1000.

Yes, I know I'm a little crazy, but it sure was fun.

Happy New Year!

After picking up some mini sparklers while in Sorrento, we decided to ring in the New Year with the girls on the deck with the sparklers. We then put them to bed at the normal time, and got a babysitter to come over when they were asleep, and left to have a couple of drinks at the pub on base with instructions to call us if Eloise woke up. We got lucky and she slept soundly and we had a fun kid free night.

My Cute Girls!

Thanks to Uncle Patrick, Aunt Jackie and Cousin Shawna, the girls received darling coordinated outfits for Christmas. They got all dressed up for a birthday party a couple of days after Christmas. These are certainly some of our new favorite outfits!

Five Months Old

On December 30th, Eloise turned five months old. She is a great baby, but we are still working on fine tuning her sleeping schedule. She is now rolling both directions (back to front and front to back) and she is even starting to scoot around the floor. She loves playing with her toys and watching her older sister.

Riding Bikes with Sadie

After Christmas, Claire and her friend Sadie had fun riding their new trikes and scooter around the tennis court behind our apartment. The girls were so cute and had so much fun rolling around with each other. There were a couple of near misses, though!

Breakfast with Santa

For the second year in a row, we went to the restaurant at Carney Park to have breakfast with Santa. It's a cute event and not totally crowded, so Santa has time to visit a little with each child and give him or her a present. Claire loved seeing Santa and unwrapping both hers and Eloise's gift.

The Santa was quite humorous and I'm so glad that Claire is too young to notice the craziness of this Italian Santa...