Standing

Carsen is now pulling up and standing while holding onto things.  Life's getting real interesting!

Also, she's liking salmon a lot better now after several tries (and mixing in some sweet potato) :)

Sweet treats

We've been playing Candyland a lot over the last several days.  Last night Rosalyn drew this card early in a game, which lets you move to a space very close to the end.  She said she wanted to skip that turn because I was still back at the beginning and she didn't want to win and eat all of the candy without me.

She's such a sweetie.

Salmon

Carsen tells us what she thinks about salmon for dinner.

Papa time

My parents and Ryan came to visit this weekend.  I didn't take many photos except of Papa snuggling Carsen.  

Carsen is getting a little mama-clingy lately, but she adjusts pretty quickly as long as she's not hungry or tired. 

I love the progression of Carsen's expression in these photos... Looking back at mama to see what's going on and get reassurance, then a slightly skeptical look, then one of my favorite gestures... Carsen rubbing her forehead against you as a sign of affection!  Such a sweet feeling, and I know papa enjoyed it.

Last dance moves

They learn the shuffle step.

More dance 2

Another dance routine - not sure what this song is called. Rosalyn is in the black leotard on the back row.

More dance

More dance moves. Rosalyn is in the black leotard, 4th from left.

Pretty baby

Another dance routine. Rosalyn is in the black leotard on the back row

You must have been a beautiful baby

Here are some videos of parent watch day at dance. She seemed to do fine at dance class, but when it was time for tumbling, she felt too tired an ended up coming home to sleep for the rest of the day. She got some good rest and had a better appetite last night, and she's back at daycare today. Hopefully she'll have a good day, and maybe Corey and I will be back to normal tomorrow!

Recovery

Rosalyn stopped throwing up Monday after visiting the doctor.  She took a few sips of water that night, and on Tuesday we started slowly taking bites of toast.  She seemed to feel better but was still very tired and slept a lot yesterday.

Today is parent watch day for her dance and tumbling classes at daycare, and she said she feels well enough to participate.  

Carsen has been fine.

More videos from Rosalyn's perspective of the world

Trading places

Rosalyn asked if she could use my phone to take a couple photos tonight while I was feeding Carsen. I just looked at the stuff she took... Over 30 videos and some photos as well. Most of them were rather hard to tell what the object of the shot was, but here are a few that turned out okay. :)

Rosalyn, version 4.5

This monkey is 4 and 1/2 today, and I realized today when I measured her that it isn't just the recent haircut that makes her look so much bigger.  She's grown a lot in the last 3 months (the last time we measured).

I love you

Here's the video of Rosalyn saying I love you in sign language.

We also made up a sign for her name so I could say I love you back to her (based on the sign for flower/rose) by tap on either side of your nose with your pointer and middle fingers crossed into the sign for the letter R.

Imaginary Worlds

 

Corey had to work Satirday, so after our first visit to the Farmers Market this year (yay!!), I took the girls to the Botanical Garden to see the new Imaginary Worlds exhibit, which includes many cool sculptures of mythical creatures composed of plants. 

There was a butterfly class in which Rosalyn was able to decorate a butterfly and attach a noisemaker as the probiscus (the part that reaches out for nectar, like a tongue) so when you blow the noisemaker, it shoots out.  She also learned about the butterfly life cycle, planted a seed for flowers that attract butterflies, dance around with butterfly wings, etc.  Carsen enjoyed smiling at herself in the mirror.

One of the neatest sculptures was the Earth Goddess.

Another favorite plant sculpture.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to my mom, mother-in-law, grandmothers and all of the other women who have shaped our lives!

There seemed to be a competition in our household to see who could wake mom up earliest this morning.  Taffy woke up in the wee hours of the morning and whined at the door, so Corey took the dogs out and fell back asleep on the couch.

Carsen woke me up at 4am cooing and ready to play.  I changed her diaper and nursed her, but she wanted to stay up and celebrate until ~5.  Eventually she went back to sleep in my bed.

Rosalyn woke up at 6 and said Happy Mothers Day in sign language.  I convinced her it wasn't time to celebrate yet and she could go back to bed or check to see if Daddy was awake.  Luckily I got to sleep for a bit longer until Rosalyn brought breakfast in bed at 9am.

We've had a nice day that included church, naps, playtime and picnic at the park.  Now let's see if everyone will cooperate with a good night's sleep!

Rosalyn was so proud of herself and all of the things she did for me today - that was my favorite part, just seeing the pride she felt doing nice things. 

I have a video of the sign language love you, but I'm having trouble getting videos too post again, so I'll post that later when I get the issue sorted out!

Namesake

On our way home from Indiana, we stopped in Tennessee to visit Corey's grandma Self.  It was her first time meeting Carsen, whose middle name, Delia, was chosen after her.

Like father, like daughter

Carsen is already training to be an accountant!

Family time

Corey and the girls with his siblings, nieces, mom and grandma at his step-sister's wedding.

I missed the wedding because Carsen was taking a much needed nap in the car, but the reception was very nice, and we had a brief but great time with family.

Visiting the Leggetts in western Indiana

While we were visiting our friends in western Indiana, we got to take a nice hike in their woods.  Technically we were hunting morels (mushrooms), but we think it was still a little too wet, so we just enjoyed the hike.

Carsen had a nice nap on Corey's back.  

I got to hang with Myn (one and a half years).  

Carsen and Deacon blazed the trail.

Adorable hiking princess!

Indy friends

Here are a few more photos from our trip to Indy.  The kids had a fun bubble bath after a busy day playing outside.

Rosalyn played with Tycen, the 5 year old son of my college roommate Andrea, at the canals in downtown Indy.  What a nice downtown area!

Baby friend time with Carsen (7 months) and Viviana (7 weeks).

 

The Self and Slaughter gang.

Bonfire celebration

We celebrated Corey's birthday at our friends' house in Indianapolis. We explored the Indy Art and Nature park during the day, took naps, then grilled brats for dinner and toasted marshmallows. We all enjoyed being outside (Corey enjoyed it much more after we got him new allergy meds).
Carsen is always on the go, getting into everything she can, including her sister's snack. When she can't reach the snack, she's apparently happy to settle for eating Rosalyn's sleeve. :)

Road trippin!

With a little help from Princess Mia (aka the Princess Diaries movie on daddy's phone) and Pippi Longstocking on audiobook, these girls were champs on our road trip!

By the way, I take back all of the derogatory things I ever said about parents who rely on tvs and DVD players in the car!

Fashion statement

Rosalyn made a fashion statement with her new hair clips - wearing all of them at once. At least she likes them!

Bat cave

The girls have fun playing with the bat cave at first stop on the road trip - our friends' house in Indiana.
We also went for a hike in the woods at their house - we were hunting for morels but didn't find any.