She’s 5 months old and has a tooth now!  No solid food to use it on yet, but that’s coming up in the very near future.  She handled the teething part well, only getting a little fussy and sniffly.  She acts like she’s ready for food, and I think she’s jealous when she watches us eat.

And she weighs 15 lbs!  Fifteen pounds, 10 ounces according the the doctor.  We went to the gastroenterologist the other day to find out why she’s got some poop weirdness.  Kate’ll probably fill in the details in an upcoming weekiversery post.  Other than weird poop she’s doing great, happy and healthy.

She enjoys playing with toys – she’s got a little baby activity center that she can play with for a little while.

And she scoots around on the floor, sort of.  She can push up on her arms, and then push up on her toes and sort of inch around sideways.  I don’t think she’s in control of where she’s going, but she’s very intrigued by the idea of moving around.  It will soon be time to re-child-proof our house.

Also, five-month old Sarah continues to do a pretty great impression of five-month old Ted.

Ted recently completed his first (and second) guy’s road trip.  He and I drove to and from New England last month (while the ladies flew).  He did really well, thanks most likely to the DVD player, Leap Pad, and the free-flowing snacks.

Here’s a photo from that trip. On Easter morning Ted put the squeeze on GG.  She got him a Transformer for his birthday this year, and a hug was totally in order.  Wish he could spend more in-person time with his great-grandmoms, as their lack of of email and skype put them a little out of the loop sometimes.

The next pic was also taken at Newport Creamery, home of candy-covered pancakes and the four-year-olds who love them.  He and Jack love these pancakes so much, they suited up for the occasion (and maybe for Sarah’s baptism).

Wish we got more photos from that morning, as cousin Abigail and her parents were there, too!  Ted did pretty well for having to get up super-early Easter morning.

Forty-nine month old Ted has built up a formidable collection of cousins and step-cousins.  While visiting Grandpa and Grandma, he and Sarah squeezed in together with Sophia, Matthew, JJ, Jake, Jack and Ben.  I hope Ben always stays as happy as he is here.

Here’s Ted chillaxin with Grandpa on their back porch.  Ted got to try his first soda! He seemed to enjoy the drink, the company, and the sweet sweet cable tv they were watching.

Forty-nine month old Ted goes to a lot of birthday parties these days for his classmates.  We went to two last month and have at least two or three more upcoming.  They tend to be a at high-energy bounce house kind of places and he loves it.

He still very much likes to ride his bike, and we try to get him on it at least once or twice a week.  He’s -almost- figured out how to coast.  For a while it was either peddling or braking to a full stop.  No in-between.  Getting him to not peddle full-speed downhill has been a challenge.

Here’s Sarah showing off her toothless grin while on her belly.

And on her belly is where she want to be.  Put her on her back and she immediately rolls onto her belly.  Roll her back to her back, and she rolls right over again.  Then she uses her big blue eyes to tell you that she does not want to be rolled again:

So she’s got some neck strength now, but not enough torso strength to sit up on her own just yet.  She does have enough lip strength to make goofy faces though.

Most days when I come home from work, she’s got a big grin waiting for me as soon as I get in her field of view.  Makes me a happy dad.

Cupcakes were served on his actual birthday, and then we had a huge party for him and his friends (blog post forthcoming).

Kim, Anne, Jack and Ben helped us sing happy birthday over skype.

Four year old Ted is skilled at Easter egg collecting. Here he is at his preschool hunt, checking out the haul.

Ted’s most mature quality, I think, is empathy.  He wants very much to feel what you feel, and to help cheer you up when you’re not feeling great. He’s driven to view the world as an optimist, and while I worry sometimes it might lead to naivety, I’m so glad he’s the way he his.

Kate, Sarah and I are truly fortunate to have him in our lives.

She is into the looking.  Looks at toys, looks at her hands a lot, too.  She likes watching Ted, as he’s always doing something exciting.

She sucks her thumb some. She bats at her toys, especially a mobile over her changing table.  She drools and cries and sometimes laughs.  Baby stuff.

Here’s Grandpa Al holding his youngest grandchild.  This is their second time together – Al got to see her on her first day of existence way back in November.   She’s got more grandparents visiting this coming weekend when Gram and Pops swing by the After Victory homestead.

Handsome kid, that Ted.  Check out those teeth, cleaned professionally during his forty-seventh month.  He did a great job at the dentist, too.

Ted continued his scootering in February and is doing pretty well with it.  Hopefully he’ll get more time on it during the spring.

Grandpa Al visited recently, and he and Ted did some baking together, watched the superbowl, and visited Marble kids museum.  They had lots of fun together.

Also last month:

• Ted successfully chewed some gum without immediately swallowing it.
• His reading is improving.  Auntie Kristen picked him up some early reading books and he’s working his way through them.  Dad’s mind = blown.
• Poor kid was sick for like two weeks, missed a whole bunch of preschool.  Snot and coughing.
• Ted can totally operate operate Netflix on our Wii on his own now.  He also has a Nick Jr. Wii game that he plays very well.
• Mom’s new nutritional requirements mean lots of new food choices in the house. Ted recently tried and very much liked coconut milk.
• Ted and Kate and Sarah got to visit our town’s new police station recently.
• He and his cousin Jack held a phone conversation last week which went on for a very long time for the 3-4 year old age group.

He’s been a big-brother for two months now and seems to be handling it a little better now.  I suspect the fact that he and Kate and Sarah are usually booked up with school and social activities daily helps take the edge off of no-longer-being-the-sole-recipient of our attention.

His forty-sixth month brought him a few visitors.  First his playgroup pals stopped in for an morning of hanging out and sharing toys. Then last weekend Auntie Christine stopped by to swing Ted in circles (and maybe snuggle with Sarah a bit).  Then just the other day  Hike Club charter member Scott and his girlfriend stopped in to deliver some prizes.  It’s nice that we live so far away and still somehow get a ton of visitors!

Below is a picture of Ted doing his best not to eat the cake placed in front of him.  He and Kate made it to celebrate cousin Ben’s first birthday, even though Ben is 750 miles away.  Just because you’re using skype doesn’t mean you can’t have cake!

Sarah has been with us for two months now, and she’s adjusting to life in our family (or the other way around). She’s asleep right next to me now in this magical sort of chair that I imagine must be just like sitting in the most comfortable recliner ever (except, for babies). Much like her cousin Abigail, Sarah digs the rocking.

Just this past weekend she’s started smiling the heck out of the place, we assume because her Auntie Christine was in town.  It’s hard to capture her smile in photo form though, as she immediately sees the camera and loses the smile.

Her baby acne is mostly gone (yay!) but she’s got some fierce cradle cap like her brother did. She’ll sometimes smile at you if you look at her and ask and make silly faces.  Tickling her gives her an inquisitive look and does not produce giggling.

 She sucks her thumb sometimes, when she can find it. She likes the animals on the mobile in the pack ‘n play, and will try and bat them with her hand when they swing on by.  She makes little noises, mostly grunts although I swear I got a ‘coo’ out of her yesterday.

Her eyes have turned a bit more blue than they were a month ago, but who knows if they’ll stay that way… her brother’s were blue for a while and changed to a greenish hazel color.

She’s pretty awesome, and we’re very lucky.

He totally stepped up to the plate on Christmas morning and opened his little sister’s presents for her. Here he is opening one of his:

Also Ted drinks his organic vanilla flavored milk with peppermint lollipop exclusively when his parents feel like busting out of the house and going to Starbucks.  He danced to the Christmas music there, bringing a little holiday joy to the coffee shop.

Here’s Ted pushing the coordination limits of 3-year-old boys when playing our Wii.  He didn’t fall and smack his head or break our TV/Wii, and for that we are grateful.

Ted embraced the arts during his forty-fifth month by doing a bunch of Christmas crafts to get us into the holiday spirit. He also sang in his preschool’s Christmas party, playing bells during the Jingle Bells song, like the Renaissance boy that he is.

He also helped us decorate the Christmas tree (with his Auntie Christine) and put his signature touch on it by putting nearly almost all the ornaments on the same branch.

Sarah’s been with us for a month now, and life couldn’t be more different or awesome. She refreshes my memory on just how challenging it is to be the parent of a baby all over again. She’s also super-cute and makes me feel even more lucky.

Here’s a picture of her in crib, which she’s only spent a few hours. She’s been sleeping in our room at night, which is a different approach than we took with Ted. So far its been working out well. I think both Kate and I have been sleeping much more than we did when Ted first showed up.

Sarah had a quite a few visitors during her first month, including two visits with Auntie Christine! Here’s her and her Gram enjoying some time together.

She does usual baby stuff like eating, sleeping, crying, wiggling and charming those around her.  Here she is napping in her swing, which while not always magic, does occasionally make a cranky baby a happy baby.

Happy one-month birthday baby girl.  We are so thankful you decided to join our family.

PS: Remember when her brother was one month old?