You wouldn't know it by looking at this picture (she's relaxing), but our little girl is a chatterbox! if she gets your attention, she'll start babbling happily. I wonder what stories she's telling me. I wonder if she's telling me about her brother when her tone changes and sounds annoyed. But mostly it's happy chatter, and I love it.

She's more attentive, a little more demanding of my attention too, but still pretty perfect and adorable. She sleeps all night and naps when I take Evan to the park. She won't let me nap, but that's ok.

She's very aware of Evan, and she now knows that if she cries when Evan is doing something to her, I'll put some distance between them. Sometimes she has every right to cry, because Evan isn't always gentle, but sometimes she just cries to get away. Ah, yes, she's a little sister and she knows how to work the system!

There's no doubt there's a toddler in the house. (The pic shows his first black eye, though the light sucks. He walked into our bed frame)

He was 27 lbs 11 oz and 34.5 in at his last doctor's appointment. 95 percentile for height. He looks like a 3 year old!

He has twice as much energy as he did two months ago, he screams twice as loud, he thinks getting an upset reaction out of me is twice as funny... Yup, toddlerhood. We're there.

He's terrorizing the dogs, chasing them around with everything from spoons to loud toys. He screams at the top of his lungs out of excitement, but saves his ultimate supersonic scream for when he's upset. That's when Joan starts crying. And I get it, it hurts my ears too! The funny thing is, Evan has sensitive ears. How the heck can he scream like that and not be affected?

He also enjoys standing on the couch or the rocking chair (or any chair, really) and dance. He's a dancing fool, he loves it! He also enjoys biting me when I'm not paying enough attention for his liking (usually while I feed Joan) and he loves my reaction so much he does it again, and again, and again. Until I just leave him alone in the room for one minute. He loves going outside and gets really upset when it's time to come back in, whether it's because it's super hot outside, or because Joan is crying. But he usually gets over it quickly. Unless it means I have to feed Joan, then it might get rough around here.

But he still amazes me and makes me smile every day. Not just with his silly dance moves, or his excitement when he chases the dogs around. He's also discovering so many things every day. He's into the mechanics of everything right now. He spends time figuring out how things open and close: jars with lids, buckles, closet doors, drawers, cabinets (and the childproofing gadgets that keep them closed, thankfully he hasn't figured out to open them yet).

He still loves books, but now it means he picks a book and you have to read it 8 times in a row. And good luck trying to change the book, or getting him to "read" the book to you.

He's not talking yet, he only has a couple of words: mama, papa, sometimes Joan. He started saying Joan when she was about 2 weeks old, but he doesn't say her name often. Everything else he communicates with signs and "ma", "tee", and such. He understands everything we say in English and Spanish, so I'm not worried.

Yes, he drives us crazy half the time, but he's still incredibly adorable the rest of the time. He's for sure our favorite son. :)

For the first time in weeks both kids are asleep at the same time!

So let me tell you about Joan. At her 2 month doctor's appointment, she was 12 lbs 7 oz and 24 in. She is long! 95 percentile for our little one!

She's not a consistent napper during the day, but she sleeps through the night. Yes, I'm bragging. She sleeps from about 9 pm until 6 am. We absolutely love her for it.

She holds her head pretty steady, though of course not all the time. She can stand tummy time far longer than Evan did, but only if she can see me/us. If not, she's done with it pretty soon. So I can't give her tummy time in her crib, because the bumper blocks her view.

She's smiling and cooing and starting to laugh. She's such a light. But she's very mellow and calm, and will stand our trips outside to let Evan burn some energy.

That is not to say she doesn't cry. She will cry with such sentiment if something is bothering her (ahem, her brother's screams), you can't help but to want to fix it all right away.

And the cutest moment so far: on July 28 Evan and Joan were smiling at each other, and talking (cooing) together. Melted this mama's heart!