Memorial Memories

Huh, it's Wednesday already?!

I loved the long weekend and we packed it full.

We kick started the weekend with burgers & fries at In 'N' Out, yum!

Saturday...hmmm, I don't even remember what we DID on Saturday! Oh, yeah, Danny took the kids to his mom's to do some work around the house (she's remodeling) and I stayed home with the baby, cleaning and sewing. It was a nice break, I don't have much time to myself these days so to be able to post myself behind the sewing machine for a solid hour is definitely enjoyable. I even got it listed on Etsy!



Sunday after church we took the kids to a party and they swam and we chatted and ate. The Girl discovered that she likes (no LOVES) bbq ribs! Getting her to try anything with a sauce was victory enough. We didn't drag ourselves home until nearly 9pm, a very late evening for us.



Monday was Memorial Day and Danny was back at his mom's, helping to resurface the walls. The kids went swimming again and this time my stepson joined them. He's in desperate need of a hair cut (as you can tell!). We don't get to hang out as often as we used to so seeing him is always a treat. He just celebrated his 14th birthday this past week and is gearing up for Jr High graduation shortly.



I swear it was just yesterday that he was this little guy in preschool (dressed like a little old man, so cute!).



The Girl was eating a cupcake and I don't even think she realized she had frosting on half her face!



Baby D was really enjoying being in his walker in the yard. Though he can touch the ground, he's not mobile in it yet but he likes to play with all the features and just look up and laugh at the leaves moving in the tree.



Whew, we were all wiped out from the long three-day weekend, Baby D included!

Leaps and Bounds - 6 months old

Last Saturday after we got home from our long day at Sea World, we ate sandwiches for dinner and then lounged around the living room with chocolate chip ice cream. Baby D was happily rolling around on the floor in his monkey pajamas.



Suddenly he pressed up on his arms and thrust his knees up quickly beneath himself into a crawling position! He balanced there for a minute or so before lunging forward onto his tummy, arms and legs off the ground like he was trying to swim. We cheered and made it a big deal, which he loved!

He did this a few more times until he got tired and wanted to go to bed.



But now that he has a new "trick", he's doing it all the time, each time we lay him down. Of course this also means he's doing it at 2:30am and then he can't go back to sleep!





In the past few days he's been up on his knees and now he'll rock back and forth, lunging forward to grab something. It is so adorable to see how his strength is growing. He does still fall forward a lot because his arms get tired and he doesn't like that one bit!


He's UP!


And then he's down!

Happy Half-birthday today Baby Boy! You've changed so much in the last six months, I'm excited to see what the rest of the year brings for you.

Splash!

We live in a tourist city. This means we have access to all the great amusement parks but we don't necessarily always get to go to them! For one, they are often very busy on the weekends with tourists. And two, they are  also really expensive!

This past weekend however my mother-in-law had special passes to Sea World through her work which meant we got to spend the day in the park and were also treated to a nice lunch buffet. We brought in snacks and bottled water to get us through the rest of the day and got out without spending a dime! We developed lots of memories along the way...


The kids were ready to go! The Boy is holding a tiny orca whale figurine he found in a toy bin at Grandma's house.


We dressed in layers because May is usually a weird month and can be really overcast and cool along the coast.

However the day turned out to be gorgeous and sunny the entire day and the kids quickly ditched their jackets!

I promise you we feed these kids and they eat quite a bit, but they both are so slim!

We spent the day hopping around the park, taking in various shows, checking out the indoor aquariums and going on a few rides. I love the Wild Arctic area with the beluga whales and the polar bears.



My mother-in-law and husband were such good sports, each taking turns riding all the super-soaker rides until they were dripping!


The Peak of Atlantis


Whew, at the bottom and sopping wet!

They dried just in time to jump on this rapids ride, only to emerge more dripping than the last time. They all LOVED it!



The Girl was brave and held a sea star (more brave than I... No way am I touching one!). Of course the sea star moved and freaked her out!





Baby D was great all day and took turns riding in his stroller or in the front carrier on Dad's chest.

We ended the day with my favorite, watching all those sitting in the "soak zone" at the Shamu show get showered head to toe with icy cold water when the orca flips his tail over and over...I could watch that ALL day and never get tired of it!!



Thank you Grandma LaVerne for inviting us to share such a fun day with you!

6 months old

This Friday,  he'll be 6 months old.


A half of a year has gone by...already?!

I know everyone say it but seriously, time really does fly.


So what has our little half-year old baby boy been up to?

He's sitting up alone but still needs to have someone right behind him with hands ready to prevent him from toppling over. This happens too often still for me to say he's sitting up well by himself.

He is however pressing up on his tummy extremely well. He has started tucking his toes under and pressing into a push-up position and over the weekend started popping his knees up so he's completely on all fours. He tries moving one knee forward but doesn't have the coordination or strength to move his hands too so he'll stay on his knees for a few minutes before lunging and flopping down forward. Looks like we'll have a crawler very soon!


We haven't introduced any new foods in a few weeks. Not because Baby D isn't ready, it's just that we've not gone to the grocery lately! I do have a bag of frozen organic peas, so I'll need to get those out and processed in the Baby Bullet for him to try. Some days he's not really in the mood to eat solids at all and other days he'll have two servings, so we just play it by ear.

Since the two teeth broke through last week, getting him to bed at a decent time has been much better. He's falling asleep quickly again and not getting upset when I lay him down. He's still sleeping through the night which is great...I thank my lucky stars that he's such a good sleeper!


I picked up a few baby books at The Boy's school book fair last week. Instead of pulling out all the books at once, I'm just going to show him one of them until he gets bored with it and then we'll rotate them. First up is a Curious George book which he is absolutely loving. I think it's the bright yellow pages, the red lettering and of course, adorable little George's smiling face! Baby D has already chewed the edges so they are dog-eared. It's very cute to watch him hold the book and talk to the pages.


This kid has been showing off his temper lately too. He really hates the car ride from Grandma's house to our house. Fortunately it's only about 7 minutes long but the screaming is enough to drive you insane. It's so hard to hear him cry and not really be able to do anything about it but shush him and rub his little head. I think it's the stop and start at every red light that does it, because whenever we hit the freeway he falls asleep.

We haven't been able to get him to say any words yet but we do repeat words for him and he watches our mouths and moves his lips. He coos and "talks" but nothing with actual words yet. He can certainly blow raspberries like nobodies business though! He's still a drooling machine, working his way through a bib an hour. I was hoping the drool would taper off with the appearance of the teeth, but he's still a very juicy little boy (as these photos of him with a shiny chin prove!).


We are enjoying all the little moments along with the big events. How sweet you look curled up on your side at night, wearing those white footed pajamas. How excited you get when we slip you into the bathtub and you kick your legs and splash water all over. How, when I wake you in the morning, you can't even open your eyes yet, but you still smile so big when you hear my voice.


Can't wait to see what the second half of the year brings us. We love you Baby D!

Boys

Taking pictures of older kids isn't a challenge when it comes to these two. When I've taken their pictures together, they've always been great with offering a nice smile (not too forced, not so fake).


2012


2010

But only when they're together for some reason because when I get them apart, it's back to the weird, glazed-over grins.





Of course then I introduced the third boy into the mix and all the good intention went out the window.




Uh-oh, Baby D wasn't enjoying the photo session any more!

They were definitely enjoying each other that day. You'd think they were the best of friends and sometimes they are. Other times...not so much! They are friends because they are cousins and because they're playmates at Grandma's house but I'm not sure they'd play together if they were just aquaintances. We'll soon find out in the fall when they both start going to the same school and they'll be sharing recess time.

I hope they'll always be close.

Two-fers

We knew it was coming. I spotted it Saturday morning and then it promptly disappeared. It reappeared and disappeared a few more times that day. And the following morning it was back, along with its neighbor!

Baby D has his first tooth...err, TEETH!


Yep, his first tooth erupted on Saturday and by Sunday morning he had two little white lines across his bottom gums.

It's proven to be next to impossible to take a picture of the teeth though, because he keeps rubbing his tongue across them when we open his mouth.


Unfortunately, all this tooth developing has made Baby D a grump at night.

We've tried chilled teethers, infant drops, Oragel and longer-than-usual nursing sessions but he's been having a harder time settling down in the evenings. His usual bedtime routine of laying him down at 7:30pm and having him pretty much fall asleep on his own has been pushed back to closer to 9 or 9:30pm by the time he's finally asleep (after him crying and wanting to be rocked and held a little longer).


I'm not pushing him back to his old routine, by no means. I know that he just needs the extra snuggles a little more right now and I'll give him what he needs until he's ready to start self-soothing at bedtime again.

Even if that means I'm up at 1:30am like I was last night. I can't complain, really...that hasn't happened in a long time!

Live and learn for sure. When The Boy was a baby I would have been more stressed out about trying to keep the routine. Now I know that it's nothing to worry about and that in fact, pushing them too much causes more stress from both parent and kid. The baby definitely picks up on that so I'll snuggle him a little extra when he needs it...we both benefit from a little extra loving!

The Way it Really is

Happy Mother's Day!

After church, we'd been planning on going out to lunch/early dinner with our moms but they really wanted to stay closer to home so we decided to just throw some chicken on the grill and make pollo asada tacos. We ate outside under my parent's shady mulberry tree. The weather was just beautiful, the boys played and ran all over the yard, my brother and sister-in-law came over and it was a pretty quiet day.

I was able to get a really nice picture of Baby D with my mom. He was looking at the camera, hurray!



And this sweet picture of my sister-in-law snuggling with him.



So I asked my husband if he could please take some pictures of me with my boys. I don't have one of us together yet and it proved to be an interesting undertaking. My husband was shooting away like he was paparazzi and he must have taken about 30 pictures, but we still didn't get any of the baby looking up!

Off center and with the baby's belly showing. There is also a big string of drool coming out of his mouth and down the front of his shirt...



Out of focus...



This one is pretty good. The best of the bunch!



This one is okay, but The Boy is starting to make a funny face...



Apparantly The Boy got something in his eye...





The wind kept blowing my hair in my face...



And it wasn't until I got home and put the images up on my computer, that I noticed one glaring fact. Baby D has his hand down inside my blouse for every single picture!

So typical! Isn't that just the way it is?!



*sigh* I'll get that frame worthy shot of me and the kids...someday!