aunt kristen comes to town | zoey turns 9 months!

Wow, I feel like so much has transpired since I last blogged...which is exactly why I haven't found the time to blog until now! A few weeks ago, I experienced one of the best surprises of my life, when I walked into my kitchen and saw my little sister Kristen sitting at my table, fresh from California! Mom, Dad, and of course Kristen managed to keep the secret from us, and I was just so overjoyed to see her. I kept screaming "WHAAAAT?!! WHAAAAAAT?!!" until the truth actually sunk in; she would be spending the week in NJ!

 Aunt Kristen, in baby heaven!

Needless to say, Kristen spoiled the girls with attention, hugs, and lots of kisses. We had a fun-filled week which included a Memorial Day barbeque at Mom and Dad's, a trip to the Garden State Discovery Museum, a shopping day at the Cherry Hill Mall, and a puppet show version of The Three Little Pigs at the Ritz, where Kristen and I both dabbled in community theater back in the day. We also caught up with my good friend Amy and her two little boys while they were in town for a visit. It was of course difficult for Amy and me to maintain some version of a conversation while simultaneously wrangling our wee ones, but it was great to catch up, and the kids had a blast.

Here are a bunch of videos we took during my sister's visit (photos to come soon!) We love you and miss you tons, Aunt Kristen! I hope one of these days we can surprise you by materializing in your kitchen!

 We had just discovered that Ellie could count to five in Spanish (thanks to Dora, I suppose!)

Kristen taught her a lot more Spanish during her stay.

Zoey is very excited to see Aunt Kristen, and flaps with gusto to prove it!

Elliott shows off by spelling her name. (Ryan made up the cute song to teach her.)

Elliott and Jack take a break from splashing to hug each other.

 And then Ben makes Zoey cry with his own smooth baby moves.

 Elliott gobbles up a snack and tells Aunt Kristen she's allowed to eat it "again and again and again."

(For the record, I told her no such thing!)

 Ellie admires her own sweet dance moves while shopping at H&M.

And now onto the second part of my post...Zoey turned 9 months old this past Friday!!! That's right, our baby is now 3/4 of a year old! This month saw a few exciting landmarks, like waving, kissing, sitting herself up, standing, giving high fives, and sprouting a fourth tooth (two more are on their way but are taking their dear sweet time). She still doesn't officially crawl, preferring to speed-hoist herself all around the house like a worm, which cracks us all up. One of my favorite things she does is when she looks up at me when I say her name sternly (or even when she just knows she's doing something wrong) and starts shaking her head "no." She seems to know what "Dadda" means when she says it, and when she is agitated or experiencing separation anxiety, she continuously bellows something that sounds an awful lot like "Mamma!" She's still obsessed with her big sister and she still flaps and flails around when she is excited (see video above). And when she's tired or disturbed, or just unsure about something, she sucks her little right thumb and grabs her hair or ear with her left hand. She's so stinking cute, I could just eat her up!!!

My big sister Elliott makes me happy!

I'm so proud of my new achievement!

I love playing with my toys!

I now like drinking out of a straw (and lunging at cameras).

Nothing beats a nice long ride in a swing!

Just chillin' in this here stroller.