VIDEO: Genevieve playing with doll

Another week

Here are some pictures from last week. I can't think of anything out of the ordinary that happened in our day to day lives (well aside from worrying about Becca, who had a severe allergic reaction up at school in Maine and had to be hospitalized. She's doing fine now.) Below: Genevieve and Sean (6 months) look to be about the same size even though she's twice his age! I think the dialogue in this picture went something like this: "-Hey, I'm going to take your sock off." -"Ok. Let me pull up my pantleg to make it easier."

Below: Genevieve hasn't quite grasped what chairs are for yet. Below: I couldn't take it anymore and took the kids outside, despite the freezing weather. Most of the snow in our yard has melted so they could at least play outside without having to walk and sit in snow. Here's a picture of them standing in front of the mostly dried out pond.

Below: Genevieve can now enjoy the swingset too!

...and she can enjoy the Cozy Coupe too! She has her own pink cozy coupe (Thanks Grammy & Papa!) that she got for her birthday but we haven't had a chance to put it together yet.

Below: We love our new table! (Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!)

South Bend Weekend Trip (VIDEO too!)

We went to South Bend for a long weekend and got back yesterday. It was a whirlwind weekend but well worth it.

Below: Genevieve studying up on her safety procedures on the plane.

Below: Sebastien and Dan in flight
Below: The kids waiting at the Detroit airport to get on the 2nd plane to go see Grammy Patty, Papa and Monet!
Below: Uncle Brian was there too!

Below: Saturday morning we went to a bouncy house place in Bremen. Here's Grammy and Genevieve playing on a slide there.

Below: Dan & Brian playing SkeeBall

Below: Saturday night we had a bunch of family over for pizza and cake for Genevieve's birthday. Here's Popoo, Grammy and kids.

Below: Genevieve LOVED being sung to by about 25 people. Unlike her brother, who is very shy about being sung "Happy Birthday" to, she soaked it up.

Below: Claire Goetz and Genevieve playing with some toys.

Below: VIDEO of Genevieve throwing (no, not eating) her cake:

Trip to Notre Dame campus

Sunday morning we took a trip to Notre Dame campus to show the kids. Sebastien has several Notre Dame kids books so we wanted to show him the real thing. I'm pretty sure he thought "Notre Dame" was just the name of the leprechaun but now he seems to understand that it's a place. It was drizzling when we got there and Genevieve was asleep but we braved the elements anyway. You can see in the picture below that Dan is carrying her.

We showed Sebastien the Grotto and the inside of the Basilica. We also found the St. Genevieve window. When we came back outside, it had stopped raining. The bells on the church woke Genevieve up, just in time to take some pictures in front of the Dome.
Below: Brian, Dan & Genevieve

Below: Sebastien was drawn to this tree outside the Basilica.

Brian had to catch a plane back to VA after this, so this was goodbye. Luckily we'll see everyone again in June.

Sebastien's Big Deal

Last week a special item arrived in the mail for Mr. Sebastien. Disguised as a toy and really cool thing for him, it's really a tool that I've been using to make him sleep later in the morning, and hence, allow me to sleep later too. Sebastien had been getting up earlier and earlier so I bought this nifty little nightlite. I set it so it glows blue like a moon at 8pm when it's time for bed. It stays blue all night then turns into a yellow sun when it's time to get up (currently it's set to 7:30.) Sebastien knows he can't get up until the nitelite changes to a sun, and it's worked like a charm so far. He is so excited to go to bed when the moon turns on at night and is so excited to wake up when the sun comes up. He does wake up before the sun comes up sometimes, but he sits in his crib and waits for the nitelite to become a sun before yelling "Mommy! My sun come up. Time to wake up!" It's quite heavenly.

12 Month Stats

Genevieve had her 12 month appointment last week. She continues to be my little peanut (in my mind at least) with her 50th percentile weight and 75th percentile height. She started doing better with solids just this last week and finally ate cut up vegetables, steak, lasagna, pizza, mac-n-cheese, a variety of fruits, cheese, and pretty much anything else we put in front of her. Her bottles are now half whole milk and half formula. We'll work up to all milk soon. She's been saying a handful of words already, such as: this, dadda, mamma, dog, night-night, and more. I think she'll be an early talker. Walking, on the other hand, is still a no-go, as she's still content to cruise and climb. Here's a pic of the sibs with their sippys:

Genevieve's Birthday Dinner

We celebrated baby girl's 1st birthday on Saturday by having dinner and cake at Grandma and Grandpa Masse's house. Here are the 2 cakes Kim made for the festivities:

Grandma and Grandpa bought her a really cute, sturdy table and chairs set. Genevieve warmed to it right away, as seen below.

Below: Grandma practices walking with Genevieve. Below: "Happy Birthday to You!"

Below: Her first taste of cake (and anything really sugary)

She's not nearly as messy as she should be.

Sebastien gives her his present....a hug!

Thank you to all of our east coast family for loving Genevieve so much and giving her a special birthday!

Happy Birthday Genevieve!

Happy Birthday Genevieve Samantha!

We love you sooooo much!

VIDEO: Get your disco on

VIDEO: Just a little dancing to some A-Teens (which if you didn't know, is a Disney-esque ABBA coverband.)

Serene Saturday

Yesterday we went to the SEE Science Center in Manchester, then hung around the house. It wasn't extremely exciting, but every day can't be, can it? Here are some pictures from yesterday.

Below: Actually this one is from earlier in the week but I just wanted to show how much Genevieve loves the rocket now. She gets on and off by herself and can scoot forward on it. She also scoots it up to the coffee table, then stands on the handlebars in order to get onto the coffee table. I'm really starting to think she's going to be a star athlete in the X-games someday.

Below: Dan and Sebastien digging for fossils at the SEE Science Center
Below: Genevieve and Kim playing with fake vegetables.

Below: We noticed a sign in the elevator at the science center that said members could also get into the mill museum too. So we briefly walked through the mill museum.

Below: The dreaded cutting of the fingernails and toenails.

Below: The little monkey's latest trick: Standing on the mittens holder and hoisting herself on top of Gywnnie's cage.

If only her dismounts were as graceful.