I think I can, I think I can...

The hug seat

Jacob got to ride in Kavi's little red wagon this morning, along with Abby. BIG hit. The middle seat was dubbed "the hug seat," and of course it was Jacob's favorite. He loves being in the center of the action!

Taxi! Jacob's favorite song.

Hilarious!

Mama tells the funniest jokes!

Sing Along!

Potty bribes

Jacob is making friends with the potty! Last week he went to the store to pick out his own potty, and today we picked out some 'prizes. He gets a sticker every time he sits on the seat without pants, and he will get a new Percy-train when he finally pees or poops in the pot for the first time. He is way into it, for the first time. I don't know if he's ready to start training, but at least he's not scared anymore. In his words, "I'm not a baby, I'm a boy!"

Besties

This is the look that is usually gracing Lily's face - surprise, delighted curiosity

Finally some pictures of my two babies together where Jacob is NOT squishing Lily.

When I took this, I said, "Look! My two babies!" and Jacob corrected me, "No. I'm a boy now."

Fresh air

A friend from the Southern coast told me this weekend that the day after a hurricane is usually the most beautiful day of the year. The humidity is gone, the air is fresh, and the sun comes out. Today was no exception. It was possibly the most beautiful day of the last two months here in New York, so we spent most of the day in the park - playing with Jacob's friend, Liam, and then later going to a new playground with Daddy to hit the swings. What a wonderful way to celebrate the end of summer.

My little engineer

These days, Jacob wakes up and goes to sleep thinking about his tracks. I'm a little tired of tripping over them every single day, but I'm so happy that he has a favorite past-time that encourages him to be so innovative, so creative, so busy. There is nothing, nothing, like a little boy and his trains.

Playgroup

Jacob and I (and now Lily) have had the great fortune to be part of an amazing weekly playgroup for the last year. Some of these friends have been a part of my mommy-life since before Jacob was born, when we were all sitting around in prenatal yoga. Others I have gotten to know more during the last year as we were pregnant with our seconds. They are our dear friends and closest support network. We're very sad that two of our group are leaving New York this month, and we can never replace them. But the playgroup will go on as the kids get older and continue to give us mommies new things to talk about (things that no one else would find interesting at all).

Just a few pictures from playgroup this summer...

Lily at 4.5 months

Surviving the storm: Hurricane Irene

As you may have heard, there was this little hurricane, Irene, "roughly the size of Europe," who blew through the East Coast this weekend. Team Jost was on the ground to report!

The beginning of the rains...

Jacob goes out to stretch his legs before the winds arrive...

A hurricane is a good excuse for a family camp-in!

Turns out there wasn't much to survive and we slept through the worst of it. The rain and winds were lighter than anticipated, and our power thankfully stayed on. Other New Yorkers were not so lucky, but all our preparations were unused. We slept in the living room to avoid the large windows, and we were SO insulated that we hardly noticed the storm at all! Things are drying out now, but the subways are out of service for at least another day. In a city where 6 million people a day use public transit, that means we still have awhile before things are back to normal. A good excuse to stay in and catch up on our relaxing!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Lily's favorite spot

In the Moby-Wrap!

"I'm building a scraper train and a different train."

Just 'cause

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stop it.

Too cute, Lily. Knock it off.

Special thanks to Aunt Laura for the hot accessories!

Intrepid

Three Lily faces- I couldn't decide which is my favorite

Lily loves her bunny

Hard at work on a Saturday

The best of friends...

This video has it all! Fight sequences, a dance, and a big opening musical number.



Two-year-old friendship is complicated.

Bigfoot

Cutest. Ever.

I want ham! Achoo!

Jacob is still laughing about this joke two weeks later...not sure what is so funny, but it is SO funny!

Hi!

I wonder why she has trouble sleeping in the car...

Cousins

Roll, Lily, roll!

Sleepy baby

Lily has spent the last week doing a little "sleep training". Even though she's always slept very well at night, she's always been a finicky napper and needed to be rocked for a long time before falling asleep. Her rocking addiction started to become an unsustainable part of our lifestyle, so we decided to let her "cry it out" for awhile to help her learn how to put herself to sleep. We did the same thing for Jacob around the same age and he turned into an amazing rockstar sleeper who almost never cried when we put him down. After a week of this training, she is falling asleep within about 15 minutes most of the time, sleeping longer, and not needing to be swaddled. I'm very very proud of her and hoping we'll keep seeing progress! She is doing SO well that last night we put both kids to sleep in the same room at the same (a first). It was a little rocky at first, but eventually they both fell asleep! It is sad to end the phase of rocking her all the time, but exciting to see her learning and getting bigger.

Safety first! Pants last.

Bath buddies!

Busy

Fearless