Look-alike

Our very own Chuck Norris:

I remember when Mim went through the phase where she was always unzipping her pajamas, too. Cora and Chuck even have very similar hair colors! And in this particular picture, similar facial expressions even.

God's newest blessing

For those of you asking about baby stats, sorry for the delay...
Due date: October 27th (exactly two weeks after Miriam's third birthday!)
Ultrasound: June 9th
I had a checkup yesterday and was able to hear the heartbeat for the first time... what a precious sound that is.

Portraits by Holly

Stephi's friend Holly came down a few weeks ago to take pictures of the girls. She did a great job and really captured their individual personalities. Enjoy!
http://www.steeles.photoherald.com/
password: girls

Tired girl

Sharing a little lunch

Announcement, volume 2

For volume 1, click here.

Prepping for surgery

Left unattended, Miriam can do a meticulous job of washing her hands (and face). Note the amount of soap on her hands... as well as on the sink. :)

Yay for spring!

We had a stomach virus a couple weeks ago which caused some cabin fever. We were so excited about the warm weather, but didn't want to expose anyone else at the playground so we just played in the backyard for a little while. Yes, Cora is wearing tennis shoes over footed pajamas but once we realized how nice it was outside, we just couldn't waste time changing clothes before we headed out!

Dolly playing with playdough

Letters and numbers

A big thank you to Grandma and Grandpa Hess for this awesome set of letters and numbers! The ones that Mommy and Daddy had gotten for us awhile back were really lame.

Sisterly conversation

Over the last few weeks, we've witnessed the first intelligable conversation between the girls. It's pretty deep, so prepare yourself. It goes something like this...
Cora: "Uh-oh."
Miriam: "Uh-oh what?"
Uh-oh is one of Cora's current most-used words. :) Cora has climbed up beside me on her little rider and is trying to help me edit this post. She has NO fear when it comes to climbing and seems to lack the common sense yet too... why would you climb up and stand on something with wheels? It's certainly testing her ability... and her core body strength as it rolled away from the table and she clung tightly to the edge of the table.

Weekend with Hesses in Macomb

This past weekend, we all got together at Uncle Keith and Aunt Lindsay's apartment and had SO much fun!

Warm days

Then, in what seemed like just a few days after we were sledding in Benton Park, we were playing on the new playground that was installed last fall in Benton Park! What a great, multi-purpose park we are so thankful to have a block away.

Sledding

A few weeks ago, we got to break in the sled we got for Christmas! There's a great little sledding hill just a block away at Benton Park.

Happy Birthday Grandma Hess!

Grandma's birthday was back on January 25th (and Uncle Markey's was that day too!) and we were able to celebrate with Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Ali.

License and registration, please

Reading to Bear

Bear [muffled]: "Wait... I can't see the pictures!"

Shaggy and lovable

Cora's First Year

And here is Cora's first year video that was just completed. It still requires some editing but here it is anyway. Enjoy.

Mim's First Year

This is now quite outdated, given that Mim is two. But we haven't shared these with everybody yet.

Christmas still shots

"I can't believe it's Christmas, I think I'm finally gettin' somethin'..."

One of Mim's new favorite phrases: "Cool!"

Cora: Hmmm... that one looks bigger. Maybe we could trade?

Cora: "Uh, Mim... I think I was supposed to get to open that one."

We've got the sled... now where's the snow???

Christmas Morning

Made in USA

This thing....

...was made in the US. I wasn't aware we could do that.

Linvilles' visit

Our good friends and old neighbors, the Linvilles, came down to visit us for a few days. It was great to see them! Here are the girls with Twila, Micah, Arletha, Benjamin, Jim and Nathan.

On Tuesday, we went to the Science Center.

And on Wednesday, we went to City Museum and had a lot of fun! They stayed and went to the Christmas Eve service at The Journey with us before heading home last night. (If you want to see the pictures below in more detail, just click on the collage.)

Sick and tired

The title refers to Mim, not Mommy. The double ear infection this past week meant extra cuddling, especially if Miriam was going to take a nap. Thursday, she took her entire nap in the sling on Mommy's back! Worked out pretty well for all parties.