July

Looking back at the photos from July, it doesn't seem like we did a lot. It was a very cold July. Here is a photo of the four of us from the 4th of July. Seda and I walked in the Aspirus float in the Lake Linden parade while Willow and Josh watched. Then we went out to lunch at the DT and out to the Gay parade, then to my parents' camp. We didn't see any fireworks this year.

July and August were very busy months for me at work, unfortunately. Trying to get caught up after being gone for 3 months is not fun. Seda was still little enough that I could bring her to the office with me on the weekends and she'd stay entertained and also contained! She'd sleep a lot too. Here she is in her bumbo chair at work.

Seda is a thumb-sucker. It started in July. She is still doing it, usually when she is tired. It's pretty darn cute. It's nice she can do that to help herself fall asleep after nursing. We have not used a paci at all with her. We tried a couple times when she was newborn, but she wasn't too into it so we didn't push it.

Here's Seda taking an outdoor bath on one of the few hot days in July.

And here's one of the sisters in their summer clothes.

Oh, one more shot...of Daddy reading his girls the funnies.

May and June

Okay, for awhile there I was thinking I was done blogging. I went back to work on June 3, and found that having two kids and us both working full time leaves precious little time for...well, much of anything, and blogging kept getting pushed off. It's amazing how busy we are. But then the other day I was looking back at some blog posts from when Willow was the same age Seda is now - comparing them, and seeing all the things Willow did at 6 months old. It reinforced how important this blog is to us. It is our family history. We don't keep scrapbooks or anything - this is it. So if we wanted to have any recollection of Seda's babyhood, I better find the time. So here goes.

I picked 5 photos from each month and was going to make one big post, but to keep it realistic I'm going to do a couple months at a time.

In May, I was still on maternity leave. I got into sort of a groove; it was nice in a way. But in another way I was glad to go back to work. I think most moms can relate to that. I think if I was a SAHM I could get into a routine and learn to love it.

Willow had a lot of play dates, with my friends wanting to come over and meet Seda. Here she is being silly with Maisa.

One warm spring day, Willow and I walked around our neighborhood and picked up trash. Willow really got into it. We have a large amount of trash in our 'hood every spring; probably more than the average neighborhood. Yes, we live in the student ghetto.

Here is one of Seda's first smiles that was captured on camera. She still had a bit of baby acne here - she really had it bad for awhile!

We went to Hastings for Josh's cousin Katie's wedding. Willow was the flower girl, along with her second cousin Natalie. Pretty cute. They did a great job.

Here's an especially nice photo I got of Seda with Great-Grandma Lois, also known as GG.

June's big event was our first camping trip as a foursome. We met up with Sharon, Andy and Fritz and some of Andy's college friends in Bayfield, WI. We camped two nights, and went to a Trampled by Turtles concert at the Big Top Chautauqua. Going to a concert there had been on my to-do list for a long time, so we were really excited, if not a little nervous about attending with two small children. Luckily, both the camping and the concert went better than expected. The girls did great camping, despite the fact that the weather was chilly and a little wet - it got into the low 40s at night. Here's Seda, all bundled up in our tent (we had to use two tents - ours and a borrowed one, since we no longer fit into our 3-man Eureka). I was a little worried, and when I got up at night to nurse her, her little hands were pretty cold. But she didn't seem to mind, and was happy the whole trip.

Here's all of us at the campsite. We shared a big one with all the other families, all of which had little kids.

Here we are in front of the Big Top. We really enjoyed the concert. Seda was indifferent, and Willow did good for a couple hours. She started to get squirrelly towards the end so we left a little early, but the concert was almost over. We made it longer than any of the other kid-families we went with. I think we felt pretty accomplished!

Seda and Fritz.

And one more picture, from the home front. Willow biking down on the bike path, with

one of our area's landmarks in the background.

Yeah - I made it through a blog post! This post was made possible by my parents, who watched the girls for a couple hours on  rainy Saturday so I could do it. Thank you!!