Winter in Florida

Winter has arrived in full force in Boston, with plunging temperatures and lots of snow. We decided to head down to sunny Florida for a few days to visit Heather's family. We hit Florida at its coldest all season, but that's okay. I think we can handle a high in the 60s over Boston's single digits!

Just before we left, Erin started smiling big time!

Erin sometimes has to share her crib with Clio. Hope Erin isn't allergic to cats!

Nana held Erin a lot while we visited.

Sometimes Erin looks a little funny when she smiles.

We decided it would be fun to crack a coconut and drink the juice. Too bad the reward is definitely not worth the effort!

Baby Erin got passed around to her cousins, and here Emily poses for a snapshot!

One of the highlights of the trip was playing doubles tennis on the Wii. If only Heather were a little more consistent...

Erin was perfectly content with Uncle Chris until we brought the camera over. Somehow we didn't get a picture with Tia, who was great with Caroline and Erin. (Tia, please note that Caroline now always pulls Bebe Do's legs down in the stroller so she "don't fall out".)

Caroline and Erin pose with cousins Christopher, Emily, and Jack.

Nana and Grandpa gush over baby Erin.

Here's a picture of Caroline and Erin (note matching outfits) with Mommy and Grandpa.

Nana and Erin take a snooze together on the couch.

A visit to the beautiful Longboat Key Beach--the water is warmer in January than it ever gets in New England in the summer.

Caroline didn't really like the water. Cooooold.

We enjoyed long walks on the beach. Erin was very cozy in the Ergo Baby.

Caroline likes her spicy sauce (aka Ketchup), lapping it up with her fork and her hands. Who needs fries and a hamburger!

It wouldn't be an Ehmann family blog if we didn't post a picture of Erin's poopy diaper. Unfortunately this poop-splosion came during our airplane flight back from Florida.

Caroline's conversations are a little non-sequential, as shown in this video. We're asking questions but she's giving her own answers.

Christmas & New Year's

The Christmas season this year started out with a nasty three-day snowstorm that delayed the visit of Claire, Peter, Sabrina, and Brooke. When they arrived they were treated to some excellent sledding conditions, which Sabrina loved.

Maybe it was the all-encompassing snow suit or the ground being too "slippelly", but Caroline wasn't a big fan of the snow or sledding.

Erin got extra attention from her more experienced Aunt Claire

and Uncle Peter was a swaddling, shushing, baby-calming expert.

We had a great time at the Boston Children's museum, like playing with the looms

and working in the shop with real tools.

Sabrina liked opening gifts for everyone. You can see that Brooke was content to play with the remote.

Erin has started to get fussy at night and we brought out the swing for her. Here Sabrina and Caroline test out their mothering skills.

Most of the time the kids played by themselves

unless we were reading stories.

Brooke even enjoyed the books.

Merry Christmas from the girls!

Later Caroline opened more presents for her

and made sure that Erin got her share.

Chinda made some cute hats for the girls.

and Erin got a little candy cane suit.

On Christmas Day we flew to Atlanta and enjoyed dinner at the Mandarin House.

This is one outfit that is too small!

We visited the Yarlotts, where Lauren and Lindsey found a princess costume for Caroline.

We also saw Joe and Tracy

and Jenna explained that the doggy bed is not for Caroline.

One unfortunate side effect of our travels was disruption of Caroline's sleep routine. Even in the best of times at home she doesn't go down easily. But in Atlanta even after lying down with her for two hours she wouldn't go to sleep. When we let her get up, it was so sad - she'd follow us around the house trailing her lovies and then finally went to sleep with Daddy at 11 pm.

As always Grandma was great at holding baby Erin.

Back at home in Boston we relaxed for a few days.

Caroline got to hold Erin a little bit.

and we took the first of many pictures of the two in matching outfits.

Happy New Year!