One year ago...

Today was kind of a big deal...wanna know why? It was a year ago today that we babies finally got to come home from the hospital! Mommy thought it would be a good day to remember what we were like a year ago, and to compare us then to us now. Well, a year ago we didn't do a whole lot...we slept, cried, ate and pooped. Oh! And we looked tiny in our small kid bucket car seats.

And to be fair, even today, we sleep, cry, eat and poop, but we do so much other stuff too! Like we crawl, and pull up on everything. And Coopy stands all by himself and claps all the time. And me Ella, I mimic and laugh and screech whenever I feel like it, which is constantly. Want to know what else we can do? We can feed ourselves...LOTS! Mommy said we should celebrate being home a whole year, so she got us cupcakes. They were delicious! The best part was they were mini, so we could just shove the whole things right in our mouths.

It was awesome! I wonder what we'll get for being home for 2 years?

Standing

I have an amazing new skill...wanna see?

Dr. Seuss

I really love to read. Did you know that sometimes when you read, it puts ideas in your head? Mommy calls it "stimulating my imagination"...whatever that means. I just call it "looking for jertains in the curtains".

Chicago

Last weekend me and Coopy, we sent Mommy and Daddy to Chicago. At first they were all, "Well guys, are you sure you don't want to come?" And we were all, "Heck no! We're sick of you! Go play and have fun and leave us home alone!" I mean, we are toddlers...we're completely capable of staying home by ourselves. Unfortunately Mommy and Daddy didn't agree and we had to compromise. They said they'd go out of town like we asked, but only if they could leave us with a babysitter...just incase something bad happened. Want to know a secret? We are so glad they left a babysitter for us! We had so much fun! First on Friday, our new friend Liz came to hang out like she usually does. It was awesome! I got to wear her sunglasses,

and we got to sneak cans of Daddy's Diet Coke (shhh...don't tell!),

and we even got eggs and toast for breakfast!

After Liz left, our friend Christy came to spend the weekend with us. At first we weren't too sure, and all we wanted to do was go to sleep. Maybe sending Mommy and Daddy away wasn't such a good idea...I know I was hoping they'd be home in the morning.

Well, they weren't. And at first we were sad, but we quickly cheered up when Christy told us she was going to take us to a birthday party! If you remember, we LOVE birthday parties, because birthday parties = cake. Well, we didn't get any cake, but we did have a pretty good time hanging out with Christy and her friends and all the big kids.

After the party we did some good playing together before calling it a night.

Then yesterday, Mommy and Daddy came home! But first we had to put in a full day of eating and showing off our food.

During snack, me and Coopy, we recapped the weekend. We decided that as awesome as it was having someone else hang out with us, we still love our mommy and daddy best.

But if they have to go out of town again...we'll be ok, want to know why? Because when they leave they bring us presents! Look at me reading one of our awesome new books from the aquarium!

And we got the best shirts ever! We sure do like presents...but we like having Mommy and Daddy around even more.

Busy

Coopy and I have been very busy toddlers these past few days. Me Ella, I've been doing things to better myself, like reading,

and finally showing Mommy my teeth (well, one anyway).

Mommy says to please excuse the scary look I'm making. Even though it was her idea to compromise and let me make a scary face so she could take a picture, I don't think she was very happy with the result. Anyway, since I've been being so good, you can only expect that Coopy's been naughty. Like getting stuck and crying about it (not very toddler like Cooper! :-p),

and crawling around with a knife and no pants.

Good thing I can crawl now or I'd be a sitting target for Coopy and his knife skills!

Cooking

Today, Daddy made me and Ella eggs and bacon for breakfast. They were delicious.

I offered to make dinner...

I'm pretty sure I'm the very best griller ever.

Foreshadowing

Sometimes Mommy dresses us for our futures. Daddy says I'm never too young to start.

And Mommy says that every super model needs a signature pose...even as a baby.

Sunday

Sundays are usually our favorite days. We get to lounge around and read the paper while we play.

And sometimes we get donuts! Sundays with donuts are the best!

I especially like it when Daddy shares his special donuts with me.

That's how I can tell I'm his favorite. :-)

Visitors

Today Gramma Betti and Pops came to visit us. We haven't seen them since July, and they haven't been to our house since we turned one! Clearly, we had lots of new skills and toys and stuff to show them. We showed them how we like to crawl, and steal toys from each other, and how we love to go for rides on our trikes. But mostly, we showed them how we like to snuggle and play on the floor. Gramma was pretty much the best jungle gym ever!

And me, Ella, I had a great time just sitting on the couch with Pops.

We love it when our Gramma Betti and Pops come to visit!

Best dressed

I consider myself to be one of the best dressed babies I know, including Ella. I always like to look my best, and most of the time I even let Mom clean me up really well so I don't crawl around covered in food and embarrass myself. I find, when I dress well, I get more respect. People don't look at me as just an adorable baby boy, they see me as a stylish, sophisticated toddler, and I have to say I kind of like being seen like that. So today, I thought I'd dress up really nice, and see if I could sucker Mommy into letting me get away with more stuff.

Clearly, she was unimpressed.

Jew Fro?

Or time for a haircut? Guess what Daddy's gunning for...

Some thoughts...

Sometimes Mommy thinks that if she dresses us up in nice outfits, we'll take pride in our appearances and therefore be stellar, well behaved babies.

Sometimes we think Mommy is wrong.

Resemblances

Sometimes it's nice to know that we are actually our parents' kids.