The latest

Alyssa is seven months old now. Can you believe it? Having her on my lap is no longer the peaceful experience that it used to be. Gone are the days when she would lay there blissfully happy for as long as I could hold her just smiling up at me with her big drooly smile. Now, she wiggles and squirms and demands constant entertainment.

She loves to be held up so she can stand or bounce and she's always digging her sharp little toes into my thighs. Reading with her in my lap is a thing of the past too because she will happily eat my book or magazine. She's forever trying to get her hands on my laptop too. I made the mistake of sharing a glass of water with her a couple of times and since then, she grabs for whatever i'm drinking as if she fully expects her share. Coffee, margarita, whatever... she doesn't understand why I won't just give her a sip.

She has a touch of separation anxiety now. She cries when I leave the room or if she happens to see me passing through. I just wish she could understand me when I explain that I'm only going to the bathroom, I'm not leaving the country.

She's still a very happy baby though. She now claps very enthusiastically when we say "Yay!" or if she sees someone else clapping. Getting her to stop crying is sometimes as easy as gasping dramatically as if it's shocking to me that she would even consider crying. She will smile or laugh and I will feel grateful that she responded to this trick while simultaneously imagining her in therapy at age 43, saying, "My mother never allowed me to express my emotions."

Alyssa is always on the move now. She gets pretty far just by rolling but she's also just started doing that wounded soldier crawl where she half crawls, half drags herself. So when she sees something she wants, she goes for it and she goes fast! And often just as Alyssa is about to grasp whatever it is she was working so hard to get to, Amanda the, ever-watchful big sister, lets out a blood-curtling scream and pulls the item from her sister's grasp no matter how harmless the item is. Alyssa doesn't seem to mind though. She just basks in her big sister's attention. Amanda plays with her and helps keep her entertained. Sometimes when I'm holding Alyssa, Amanda throws her arms around both of us and announces, "Group hug!"

Scott hasn't returned to work yet, though the contracting job is still in the works. He's had a few projects to keep him busy though. This seems to be the year for new kitchen appliances. First the dishwasher died in January and then the oven died last week. So we're now the proud owners of a brand new oven. We're probably getting a new roof in the next few weeks and also painting the outside of our house.

Both of the girls are going to be flower girls in my niece, Karyn's, July wedding and I've been working on finding dresses for them and the other two little girls. I hope I'm not breaking some cardinal rule by sharing a picture of Amanda in her dress. I figure it's okay, since she's not the bride. The other girls will wear the same, but I'm still searching for something similar for Alyssa…She's more of an honorary flower girl anyway since she obviously can't walk down the aisle.

We spent a few days at my mother-in-law's over Mother's Day weekend. That's Amanda chasing swans one night when we went for a walk. I love that picture because it reminds me so much of my niece, Katie, when she was around that age and we took her to the park and gave her bread to feed the ducks. I said, "Now go slow and be really quiet so you don't scare them away," at which point she took about three very quiet steps forward and then took off at a full-speed run, yelling at the top of her lungs. Katie's way was always way more fun than mine. Maybe the ducks didn't think so, but I did.