Catching Up

We have caught the winter bug here at the Fox Den. The girls battled colds for about 3 weeks and Ian caught a cold/sinus infection in the process. Things were improving around Thanksgiving and I was grateful that I did not get sick. I guess that I must have been bragging too loud, because now I have been battling Bronchitis, a sinus infection and a recent diagnosis of asthma going on three weeks. At least it hasn't recycled. Now we are just trying to keep a head of the holiday chaos. We will be venturing to Minnesota this weekend to celebrate Christmas with my family, then be back in Iowa to celebrate with Ian's side and with the girls on Christmas. They have already received a few presents and are still working on figuring out how to tear the gifts open while Ian and I race to pick up the paper so that they don't put it in their mouth.

Here's a synopsis of what's been happening here at the FOX DEN:

Collectively the girls love having their individual time with mommy and daddy to be tickled and played with, especially if that involves us chasing after them.  They are proficient at crawling up the steps.  Our newest bedtime ritual is to brush our teeth, which they absolutely LOVE, even if they don't always chew on the right end. 

Abby-is now walking...mostly like a drunken sailor but it improves so much everyday. Her daily mission at this point in time, is to see how many times she can 1. Empty the toy box, 2. trample over her sisters and 3. Check out the dogs next door. She LOVES bread, so we are working on saying words instead of pointing at what we want. She does well and it is so cute trying to watch her form and say the B.  Make sure to check out her video.

As I was saying earlier.....

Stella-now has 4 teeth. BIG TIME into throwing full body temper tantrums. The more we hit our head on the floor, the better it seems. She loves to walk with the assistance of someone holding her hands all the while chanting "walk". She is also my imitator, especially when it comes down to making noises with her mouth.   She enjoys giving kisses and spinning around in circles getting herself dizzy....

Sometimes it's "walk" while other times it sounds as though she is imitating Fozzie Bear "walka walka" (without the bad jokes or tomato tossing).

Zoe-Also has 4 teeth and loves to walk with the assistance of someone holding her hands. She too chants "walk" and will throw a fit when you stop walking with her. Her other favorite word is "mine" and she can wiggle her nose on command. She is also following in Abby's tradition of dancing along with ANY type of music.

As you can see, I don't even have to ask her to do it any more...all we have to do is say her name.

Here's a few new photos from the last few weeks as well.  Thanks for checking in.  Happy Holidays from the FOX DEN!!

Believe it or not, this is really how the girls conversate with each other. Either that, or they are telling each other like it is, using baby swear tones that mom's not quite familiar with.

Brushing our teeth, with a little visual instruction from daddy (bottom left corner)

Brushing our teeth....as we feel it needs to be done!

Watching the neighbor's puppies play and giving them a taste of their own medicine....baby barking style.

Stella

Abby's dinner do..courtesy of dinner and daddy.

Zoe

Here we are in our fluffy winter jackets.

Here we are in our winter attire. This is Zoe letting Jenna (my friend who gave the coats to the girls last Christmas...whom we also refer to as "Auntie Jenna") know how much she too, loves pink fluffy coats, just like her.

As you can see, Ian is quite happy with his role in this photo op. Unfortunately we don't have an individual shot of Stella...she was having an attitude.