Charlotte at 9 months

Charlotte is now 9 months, weighs in at 19 pounds 4 ounces and is at the 60th percentile for height and weight compared to other girls her age. She is eating babyfood a little better now. Sleeping in her OWN room, but we still wake up at least once or twice in the night! Ohhh how I long for the days where she can sleep 10-12 hours through the night. She has learned how to "turn around" in going down the two steps into our dining room. She also last night pulled herself up on Luke's ride on scooter toy and used it as a walking support! She loves to take laps around the living room now but unfortunately she doesn't know how to turn corners so I have to stand there and turn it for her. She definately lets you know when she wants something.. she does a whiney/frustrated sounding "ehhh!" until she gets what she wants. She pretty much wants whatever her brother has but she also likes dolls. She seems to study the faces on dolls more than Luke ever did! She's getting to be quite the big girl in all that she can do!

First Snowfall!!

I'm FINALLY on Christmas Vacation... seriously didn't think I would make it to this point a few times. Unfortunately, (for him) JW is having to work this weekend but it is a blessing to have work available! The kids and I have spent the day playing and organizing the house. When Luke woke up and he saw we had a few inches of snow he was soooooo excited! I promised him when Charlotte took a nap we could go out and play. He kept asking me, "My baby sleeping?" as she crawled past us on the floor.. "ummm no... does she look like she is asleep?". But he kept asking anyways! Finally she took a nap and I got him all bundled up. We threw snowballs, tried making a snowman, made snow angels, he literally rolled around in the snow, and soon was getting snow in his gloves and decided it was time to go inside. I think we probably spent more time getting him bundled up than we did actually being outside. But that was okay with me! It was still fun.

Getting Ready for Sinterklaas

Since J.W. is from Holland we will be celebrating Sinterklaas this weekend! This is the first year we are trying to follow more of the true Dutch traditions and having Luke and Charlotte put their shoes out by the fireplace and sing Sinterklaas songs so that he brings some treats overnight. From what Tante Essie has told me, kids in Holland do this off and on over 3 weeks!!! We started this week and I'm not sure Luke totally understands and he is a little confused by Sinterklaas and Santa being different people... but he is pretty much game for anything that will result in finding chocolate in his shoes! Today we also received a BIG box from Oma Janny and Opa Henk that Sinterklaas accidently delivered to their house instead! How nice of them to send it over for Luke and Charlotte! We took out the cookies, treats, and chocolates for Luke but we left the presents still a secret until December 5th! He found a big hollow Sinterklaas on the counter and came running to me saying, "Look Mommy, it's Holland! I found Holland!" hmmm I guess we have been talking about Holland and dutch traditions with Sinterklaas coming up but he is a little confused still! I guess it will make more sense as he gets older that Holland is a place!

Please enjoy JW (in a lovely *ahem* camo hat) singing Sinterklaas songs with Luke mumbling what I think sounds like the "ABC's" except he may be saying ABD and 'Appy, appy, appy' over and over??!! (Note to self- need to work on the ABC song...)

Sinterklaas Kapoentje,

Gooi wat in mijn schoentje! (throw something in my shoe?)

Gooi wat in mijn laarsje, (throw something in my boot)

Dank je Sinterklaasje! (Thank you Sinterklaas!)

If you want to know more about Sinterklaas traditions in Holland, I found this Wikipedia link to be pretty informative! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas