So many new things!

Charlie just learned to walk (over the past couple of weeks), and Lucy just read her first sentence! (Click on the link to see Charlie walking.  He usually looks much happier about it than that, but he's upset that I have the camera out.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UekdOa8WyHg&feature=youtu.be

August

The last of our summer visitors-- Nina!

 Charlie was sad to see Nina go :-(

After James took a huge test which has been looming over his head all summer (which he passed), we packed up and left for a wedding in PA.  After a rather stressful time getting there, it was a  beautiful wedding.  Here is Peter, ready to party.

A rare, goofy picture of James.  Lucy is concerned.

 The bride and groom were in James' master's class, and now the groom is also doing the PhD.  He's also Charlie godfather.  A very sweet couple.

 Lucy managed to snag some dances with the bride.

 She was actually one of their flower girls, but unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of that due to a crazy morning.  

 Here is Peter at three months, my smiley guy.

Look at those thighs!  At two months, he weighed 15.5 lbs.  To give you some perspective, Charlie weighed in at only 18 lbs in July.  Soon Peter is going to be giving Charlie his hand me down clothes!

Speaking of Charlie, here's a little update: He's been making a lot of great progress this summer which has been very exciting!  He has started walking, still very unsteady but we're getting somewhere!  Also, he had surgery in July to put tubes in his ears.  We thought this would make a difference in his hearing, but it has benefited him even more than we anticipated.  At a post-op appt, a hearing test showed that at least one of his ears has normal hearing!  More detailed testing will be done in a couple of weeks, but for now this is great news.  He is also signing more and more, and has at least 30 signs that he uses on a regular basis.  He makes us a smile every day, and continues to make people fall in love with him in a matter of seconds.

Butterfly House and Grandma and Grandpa visit!

One day Lucy, Charlie, Peter and I ventured to visit the butterfly house, which we first visited with Grandma when Charlie was a baby.  

 Lucy's friend Anne holding a preserved butterfly.

 Lucy holding the preserved butterfly.  This is about a half second before she started screaming and threw it on the ground.

 Terrifyingly gigantic moth.

 Below are shots of butterflies that I took so that we could identify them later.  However, the pictures do not show the hysterical scene that ensued.  As I was taking pictures, Lucy was happily communing with the butterflies.  All of a sudden, she shrieks repeatedly with tears streaming down her face.  As it turns out, butterflies love orange, and Lucy was wearing a bright orange dress that day.  Apparently, the butterflies started flocking towards her and freaking her out a little bit.  I tried to explain that "the butterflies think you are a flower-- isn't that silly?" but the screaming continued.  Finally, we just had to leave what had become a house of horrors for poor Lucy.  On the way to our car, we had two more freak-outs, one because she saw an earthworm on the sidewalk, and another because her hair brushed her shoulder which she thought was another butterfly attacking her.  Clearly, we love nature over here.

Grandma and Grandpa come to visit!  The most exciting thing that happened while they were here was that Peter was baptized.

(Peter's godparents on the left)

It was a beautiful ceremony, held during the mass at our new parish.  Afterwards we had a small party at our house and were so thankful that so many of our friends and new neighbors could join us.  It is a good thing that Peter was baptized when he was, because if we had waited much longer, his baptismal gown would not have fit.  He really started packing on the pounds. 

 Grandma made Lucy a new jumper, which is the first thing she wears after I do the laundry.

 Grandpa and Charlie just hanging out.  Charlie learned that Grandpa has all kinds of great toys on his person at all times: glasses in his shirt pocket, and a watch on his wrist.  Grandpa even got Charlie to take a couple of wobbly steps to get his watch.

Peter is under the blanket nursing, but Charlie just really needed to sit in Mommy's lap.

Grandma Glenda visits

...and a few previous.  I often find these two just sitting on the couch looking a books.  

 Charlie is fascinated with the vents, which have no way to screw in.  We have since solved this problem, but here you can see him lowering himself down into the vent to his utter delight.

 I laid Peter on the bed and Lucy was smothering him with her love.  I asked her to give him some space, and this is how it was interpreted.

 A Lucy original.

 Charlie fell asleep with a sock in his mouth one night and it was too funny to pass up taking a picture.

 Lucy is quite the little builder these days.  Sometimes we take a picture of the block city, as a compromise to putting the blocks away.

 Grandma came!  We had a great week and even managed to have some fun outings, including a trip to the Children's Museum.  Charlie loved crawling around in this space.

After leaving the Children's Museum and having lunch, we discovered a nearby carousel.  

 Charlie was slightly terrified.

 Fun at the park.

 Peter at five weeks.