Thanksgiving

Sometimes, Natalie plays with Angela and it's cute.

Other times, Natalie is pushing Angela away and hitting her when she touches Natalie's toys. Need to work on telling Mommy instead of taking matters into her own hands.

 In other news, it has been over 3 months and I am finally halfway through the 5lb chocolate bar that my Dad got us for our anniversary.

Natalie got a flu shot. And then she got a lollipop, doughnut and some chocolate milk. Oh, the pathetic bribery that it takes for kids to do things that are good for them!

We joined some friends at the zoo on Monday and had a blast!

Thanksgiving dinner was a fabulous affair even though it was just us.

I made an amazing homemade meal with all the essentials

Here is how Angela feels about cranberry sauce:

And this is how Micah feels after trying to glut himself on too much food

Post-dinner snuggles

And we randomly happened upon fireworks for the tree lighting down at Lenox mall while we were on a scenic drive of Atlanta.

Angela is into everything, won't stop moving and stands up on things now.

Now: let the Christmas cookie baking begin!

Sorry, I would write more, but now I have to go feed Angela before passing out, to be woken again every couple of hours all night long.

Brooklynn's Visit

My camera battery was dead when I went to get shots of the family on our way out trick or treating. Booooo. So, here's a crumby, poorly posed, overexposed shot that I was able to grab just as my camera shut off...

 Natalie loves to draw. Here, she described, she drew a witch with a pointy nose.

And this is usually what Angela is like:

Naked but happy

It felt like forever (and was at least 3-4 weeks) that Angela could get up on her knees and rock back and forth, but only move backwards. She kept backing herself up into tight spots, but now she is finally crawling and can get to where she wants to go and she is loving it!

We like to spend the nice, cool evenings outside where the mosquitoes have finally lightened up for the season.

And, most excitingly, we had a visitor last week. My niece came and stayed for a while because she has some time off school. Natalie enjoyed having a playmate, though she was not used to being bossed around so much and did get a little discouraged at times. 

Brooklynn and Natalie got to sleep on the air mattress down stairs. Fun!

She was very helpful when our joy school met here on Wednesday- she kept Natalie's friends in line and showed them what to do. We painted and it wasn't a messy disaster! YAY!

Here, she tries to crank the mill to make some flour. 

And some bedtime silliness

Costumes

 Natalie loves Angela. Like, so much. I can't leave them alone without Natalie climbing on Angela.

This is Natalie making Angela 'smile' for the camera.

On Saturday, we enjoyed our church Halloween party. Natalie looked fantastic in this Minnie Mouse costume passed along from Darlene.

And Angela sported this wig that I made with some pink overalls to be a cabbage patch kid. 

I was surprised by how well she handled wearing the wig. She kept it on the whole time (even fell asleep in it) but Natalie would only wear her ears at the very beginning and then when trick or treating at people's cars.

Angela is generally pretty good, though lately she has had some moments of untypical fussiness. She seems to be teething. Or she's possessed. She randomly cries and cries until I nurse her even though I know she's not hungry and she hasn't been a comfort nurser before. She is also oozing quite a bit from her face. And chewing on her fingers. We've been busy with all kinds of fun stuff and it has messed with her nap schedule, so she is sometimes super cranky and tired but won't go to sleep. Which is hard, with Micah being gone all the time, because it mostly happens in the evening when Natalie is also cranky and overtired and I'm hungry and tired, too and wah, wah, wah. 

But there is some happiness, too!

Crawling!....almost

After pushing herself backwards for weeks, she is now up on her knees, rocking back and forth. She just doesn't have a hang on how to move forward. 

Job Hunt and Haircut

First off, some glamour shots

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Micah wanted a current picture for his resume on linkedin. He is finding out about new job opportunities almost every day, so it's still totally up in the air where we will end up. Micah is weighing the various merits of quite a variety of different positions, trying to project what he wants to be doing in 10-15 years and generally sizing up the potential for professional satisfaction, intellectual and social stimulation and monetary compensation in a dozen or more opportunities.  I just hope that it's somewhere we can have indoor space and a yard for the girls to play and where traffic doesn't prevent me from leaving the house between 4 and 7 on weekdays.

Angela likes food. And she likes eating it almost as much as she likes wearing it.

 In other news, we have been working hard to fill the time while Daddy is putting in long, long hours at school. Natalie's playgrounding skills have improved- she can now climb the rock wall and the rope web at out local playground, feats which she never even attempted before last week. We rented a carpet cleaner to prepare for Angela to crawl- a milestone that she is getting dangerously close to. I gave Natalie her first hair cut.

 It's crazy how much shorter it looks considering how VERY LITTLE I actually cut off.

This is seriously ALL of it. IT was so thin and scraggly on the bottom!

Here it is fluffed out.

Natalie loves to snuggle Angela. And by snuggle, I mean glomp, roll on, smush and generally harm. But she does it all with a grin and the greatest affection. As a friend put it while Natalie was hugging Angela a little too hard the other day, "that is the cutest, saddest thing ever."

How Second-Borns Deal With Abuse

Came out to the living room after getting dinner ready to find this. 

Glad that Angela is less fragile now so I don't live in constant fear for her life.

What really impressed me was how Angela was just sitting there, chill. Natalie would be screaming bloody murder if someone sat on her...

Photos

Seasonal attire!

Angela always has her eyes on our food! She's a champ at solids so far, but we're introducing new things slowly.

Natalie has to try SO HARD to make a thumbs up.

Putting together a puzzle!

Natalie gave Angela these tutus to "play with"

And, a few weeks ago we took a whirlwind trip to Michigan for my cousins wedding. Not only did I get sick and miss most of the wedding, but I hardly remembered to take any pictures! Here's a fun day on the bay at least.

Sister love

Hair accessory!!!

Natalie saw Angela's onsie on the floor and thought it would be fun to try it on. I was shocked she could even get it on, even though it was tight. It's a 3-6 month size! Here is what it's supposed to look like: