baby alive!

In the past few days, it seems, Naomi has shifted from being a little lump of a baby to being a truly interactive little kiddo.  She smiles, she coos, and she's even starting to try to laugh in response to tickles and funny noises.  She now prefers looking at faces to looking at walls, even her favorite bookshelf and wall decorations.  She's started smiling at me when I pick her up in the morning, instead of just crying immediately.  She's even making some pathetic efforts to put things in her mouth:  she fixates on something, flails her arms indiscriminately, and smacks her lips. As a bonus, she's a good sleeper and goes around 7-8 hours before waking up.  And she really is a sweet and happy baby, even today after coming down with a cold.  She even rolled over four times this afternoon!  

As you can imagine, Mommy is thrilled with these developments.  It's so much fun to see her figure things out and to truly enjoy her company instead of just taking care of her all the time.  And since she's been going to bed earlier in the evening, I can enjoy some time with the twins.  Last night I was a "monster" who terrorized them with my hungry stare and terrible fangs.  Tonight we read books behind a blanket hung over the side of the bunk bed.  Apparently, "fort" is a hard word--Lily kept calling it a "pork", and I kept trying not to laugh while she could see me.  

A true gift of love:  Lily shared her beloved polka-dot blanket  with Naomi to help keep her warm.

We went to a superhero-themed birthday party for Parker yesterday.  Apparently, even superheroes need to stop and take a break sometimes! 

My sweet, happy (and leaky) girl!

One of Scott's recent accomplishments:  redoing our guest bathroom.  It's such an improvement!

A couple of cute things I want to remember:

• Tonight, Lily cuddled up to me before bed.  She said she wanted to marry me.  It was so sweet, I hated having to explain she couldn't!
• Lately, the kids have been increasingly interested in what Scott does at work.  One evening, Noah was talking to Scott about what he should do when he caught a "bad man".  He didn't have the words he needed, but he was painstakingly trying to describe how Scott might use rope to tie someone's arms and legs to keep them from getting away.  Once he figured out what Noah was trying to say, Scott pulled out his handcuffs and held them up.  Noah stopped abruptly, pointed at them, and said, "...Oh!  You have those!"
• We were supposed to go meet my friend Page and a couple of her kids at a museum today.  But poor Page broke her hand!  When I explained that our outing was cancelled because of Page's broken hand, Lily thought for a minute and asked, "She will get a new hand?"